Man fell from roof before Hamilton police arrived, SIU concludes

Ontario’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit, has dropped its investigation into the Hamilton officers who responded to a man’s fall from a roof.

According to the SIU, the man, 22, got into an argument with another man in a townhouse complex near Mohawk Road and Old Mohawk Road on Jan. 27. The area sits just north-east of the Highway 403-Lincoln Alexander Parkway exchange.

The man climbed to the roof of the unit to get away from the confrontation. He then fell off the roof and landed on a glass patio table. A neighbour found the man in the table, bleeding and in his underwear. The neighbour called the police.

When officers arrived they found the man had pulled himself up and climbed a second roof. He vanished behind the roof’s peak and was found in a neighbouring backyard when police caught up to him.

The officer took him to the hospital where he was diagnosed with an injured kidney. Since the man was seriously hurt, the SIU came to investigate. However, they since closed the investigation concluding the officers weren’t even there when he fell into the table.

“If, indeed, the man’s injury was incurred in the fall, it is evident that there was patently nothing to investigate as far as the potential criminal liability of any police officer was concerned; they were not there at the time of the fall. Accordingly, the file has been closed,” the SIU wrote.