SIU clears officers after teen, 16, injured during arrest in alleged machete attack

The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has cleared three Toronto police officers after a 16-year-old boy was seriously injured during an arrest that involved the teen swinging a machete at a cop.

The SIU commenced an investigation after three teenagers, two boys and a girl, injured a woman at Spadina subway station on Sunday, February 12.

One day later, on February 13, officers were called to the Long Branch Avenue and Lake Promenade area around 7:40 p.m. for a disturbance involving three youths.

The SIU confirmed Toronto police located one of the teens, and while attempting to make an arrest, the boy and another youth swung a machete at an officer. There was a struggle, and the teens fled.

Two youths were later found near Park Boulevard in Etobicoke and taken into custody overnight. The SIU said one of the teens, a 16-year-old boy, complained of pain on February 14 and was taken to a hospital with injuries that were deemed serious.

Ontario’s police watchdog said the teen suffered a broken left wrist at the time of the arrest.

“The left arm was placed in a cast, and the complainant was released from the hospital back into the custody of the police,” SIU Director Joseph Martino noted.

There were no reasonable grounds to discipline the three officers that responded to this incident, Martino concluded.

The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of officials that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and or the discharge of a firearm at a person.