Police not facing charges after man falls onto highway 407 in Brampton

The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) says police officers will not be facing any charges in connection with a man’s fall onto the 407 at the 410 interchange in Brampton. 

The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) says police officers will not be facing any charges in connection with a man’s fall onto the 407 at the 410 interchange in Brampton. 

The SIU says that around 7:30 pm on Sept. 12, 2019, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) received several calls from motorists reporting a man hanging from a sign on the 407 

The SIU report says one officer arrived at the scene at about 7:45 p.m and parked his cruiser in the area below the man. 

At 7:47 p.m., two other OPP cruisers managed to stop traffic through the area by positioning their vehicles under the Kennedy Road South overpass. The report says two officers emerged simultaneously from their vehicles and had each taken a number of steps closer to the man when he fell approximately six metres from the gantry above, landing in front of the officers. 

The report says one officer returned to his cruiser while another approached the man who had fallen. The SIU says paramedics arrived at the scene and transported the man to a hospital for emergency care.

The report says the man sustained severe injuries in the fall, including a fractured skull. The report says it is not known whether the man’s fall was accidental or intentional. 

Joseph Martino, director of the SIU, says there is no evidence that the officers are criminally liable for the man’s injuries, adding that he does not believe officers acted negligently in the situation.

“The officers were present on scene for a very short period before the [man] fell and suffered his injuries. In that time, the police had blocked traffic preventing motorists from traveling underneath the gantry,” Martino wrote in the report. 

“[The officers] had just stepped out from their vehicles to approach the man when he fell and struck the roadway. Whether they had an opportunity to speak with the man and, if so, what they might have said, is unclear.” 

Marino said that utterances made by the officers in the wake of the incident suggest there was no communication between the parties. 

“In light of the officers’ limited engagement with the [man], their quick action to secure the [man] medical treatment following the fall and their role in blocking traffic in the area, there is no evidence of any want of care on the part of [the officers] sufficient to ground criminal liability,” he wrote.

“Accordingly, there is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in the case and the file is closed.”