Police watchdog ends probe into injury at QAnon-inspired protest
Allegedly injured man declined interview, wouldn't authorize release of medical records, SIU says
Ontario's civilian police watchdog has ended its investigation of an arrest made during a QAnon-inspired protest in Peterborough, Ont., in August that resulted in allegedly serious injuries.
In a news release issued Tuesday, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said a 55-year-old man was arrested during the protest after a physical altercation with police. The man then indicated while being booked that he had suffered broken ribs.
SIU investigators tried to get in touch with him "several" times, but he declined to be interviewed and refused to authorize the release of his medical records, the SIU said.
"In the circumstances, Director [Joseph] Martino was not satisfied that the man has suffered a 'serious injury' within the statutory jurisdiction of the SIU," the release stated.
"Accordingly, the file has been closed."
Incident happened outside Peterborough police station
On Aug. 13, a few dozen people had gathered outside the Peterborough police station after an appeal from a QAnon conspiracy theorist, who purports to be the "Queen of Canada," for citizens to arrest local officers.
At the time, protester Timothy Claudio told CBC he was taken into custody after he and others sought to place members of the Peterborough Police Service under citizen's arrest.
The 55-year-old, who also attended Freedom Convoy protests in Ottawa earlier this year, alleged police used excessive force. He said he suffered from a punctured lung and four broken ribs — none of which were, in his words, "part of our plan."
"That's why it's called a peaceful, lawful citizen's arrest. Because we're tired of the tyranny within the corporation of Canada," Claudio said in August.
Claudio was among three people arrested at the event. Peterborough police charged him with two counts of assaulting police.
End of investigation not a surprise
In August the SIU said it engaged immediately as part of its mandate to investigate violent incidents involving law enforcement. But three days later, a spokesperson with the civilian body said in a statement that Claudio had "ceased co-operation with the SIU investigation."
"The affected person is encouraged to contact the SIU," the police watchdog said.
The attempted citizen's arrest of officers in uniform, followed by those individuals being taken into police custody, rocked the city of roughly 80,000 people.
Peterborough Mayor Diane Therrien responded to the weekend protest on social media with a frustrated tweet, telling QAnon protesters to "f--k off, you f--kwads."
In an interview with CBC, she said the city has seen "a lot of activity from anti-vax, anti-everything, sort of right-wing conspiracy theorists" in recent years.
"This past weekend, there's a particular group of people who were coming to the city with the explicit intent to come in and arrest our police officers and to cause disruption, to cause harm to the community," she said.
"There's a level of frustration amongst everyone in the community having to deal with this kind of stuff repeatedly because it's not new."
An American-inspired conspiracy group
QAnon is an American-inspired conspiracy group led in Canada by Romana Didulo, a self-described "Queen of Canada" with thousands of online followers. She was in Peterborough that weekend as part of a cross-country promotional tour.
Beliefs of followers include seeing Canada as a corporation they never signed up to be a part of; COVID-19 vaccines and restrictions as oppressions; and that Didulo is the "true leader" of the country.
People associated with QAnon, urged on by Didulo, have distributed cease-and-desist letters across North America to demand an end to COVID-19 restrictions. More recently, they've been encouraged to place police officers under arrest.
Didulo promoted a campaign dubbed "Citizen's Arrest for We the People in the Kingdom of Canada" on her social channels and was one of a few dozen people who attended the Peterborough event.
According to Peterborough police, officers arriving for their shift at about 4 p.m. found their path blocked by protesters trying to breach a secured entrance of the police station.
They attempted to take one of the protesters into custody when another protester struck two officers, police said. A third suspect was kicking the rear door at the station and struck an officer, police added.
With files from David Fraser