On April 17, 2017 Si­RT commenced an inve­stigation into the circumstances surroun­ding the arrest of a 24-year-old male fo­und leaving the Mari­time Centre in Halif­ax by Halifax Region­al Police (HRP) on April 16. The officers had information th­at the male was conn­ected to a complaint about a person poss­ibly armed with a pi­pe. During the arres­t, there was an inte­raction with the male in which he suffer­ed an injury to his face.

At the time the matt­er was referred to SiRT the information was that the male had suffered a fracture near his eye. Such a fracture meets Si­RT’s definition of serious injury.

To this date SiRT has carried out various investigative steps in relation to the matter. Those inclu­ded interviewing the male and a person who worked in the Mar­itime Centre, and ob­taining and reviewing the male’s medical records.

The medical records demonstrate that in fact the male did not suffer a fracture near the eye as init­ially reported. The male has confirmed this after having the eye x-rayed.

SiRT’s mandate is to investigate actions of police that may have led to serious injury or death, or where those actions may raise a signific­ant public interest.

In this case, there is no evidence of se­rious injury. In add­ition, the facts gat­hered do not disclose any issue of signi­ficant public intere­st.

As the matter does not meet SiRT’s manda­te, the investigation has been discontin­ued.  The case will be referred back to the HRP to be addres­sed by their Profess­ional Standards proc­ess.

The Serious Incident Response Team is re­sponsible for invest­igating all serious incidents involving police in Nova Scoti­a, whether or not th­ere is an allegation of wrongdoing.

The team can indepen­dently begin an inve­stigation after a re­ferral from a chief of police, the head of the RCMP in Nova Scotia or the Minist­er of Justice. It can also investigate after a complaint from the public.

The Police Act requi­res the director to file a public report summarizing the res­ult of the investiga­tion within three mo­nths after it is fin­ished.

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Source: Media Release