No Charges Justified From Cape Breton Police Arrest

The province’s Serious Incident Response Team (SiRT) today released its report regarding the arrest of a 27-year-old man on July 2, 2014, by a member of the Cape Breton Regional Police (CBRP). The man was a suspect in a home invasion committed late on July 1. 

When members of the CBRP responded to a home invasion complaint in Sydney late on July 1, they were provided with the name of the suspect.  The officers were familiar with that person, and at approximately 12:40 a.m. he was seen by the officers on the corner of Townsend and George Streets in Sydney. One officer exited his vehicle and attempted to stop the suspect. However, he ran off behind residences on George St. He eventually jumped a backyard fence, and injured his ankle. The first officer caught up with the man while he lay injured on the ground and arrested him. He was soon joined by two other officers. EHS attended and he was taken to hospital where his ankle was found to be broken.

At the scene the suspect claimed to have been beaten by police. However, SiRT investigators saw no evidence of that when they met with him the next day, and evidence from civilian witnesses indicated the police had little physical contact with the man.

The facts of the case demonstrated that the police had grounds to arrest the male, and the injury was caused by the male’s decision to run from police and jump a fence. There are no grounds to consider any charges against any officer in the matter.

The full report is available at http://sirt.novascotia.ca.

SIRT is responsible for investigating all serious incidents involving police in Nova Scotia. Investigations are under the direction and control of independent civilian director Ron MacDonald, who is solely responsible for decisions respecting the laying of any charges.

Media Contact:

Ronald J. MacDonald, QC

Director, 

Serious Incident Response Team

902.424.8400

Cell: 902.781.9707

Email: ronald.j.macdonald@novascotia.ca