SIU recommends against charges in Kingsway motel death

The province's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) says there are "no reasonable grounds" to lay criminal charges against a Thunder Bay police officer over a 2016 death at the Kingsway motel.

Police were called to the Kingsway just before midnight on July 12, 2016, with reports of an armed man in one of the rooms.

A standoff ensued, with police entering the room shortly before 7 am, and finding the man unconscious. He was taken to hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Man died of overdose

In a report issued by the SIU, the agency says the 33-year-old man died of a drug overdose. The SIU says the man was agitated when he contacted police and a family member earlier in the evening, and threatened to shoot anyone who approached his room.

The SIU says "police had reasonable grounds to believe that the complainant was high on drugs, paranoid, armed, possibly with a second armed person, and intended to kill others and himself while barricaded in his motel room."

• Thunder Bay police say 33-year-old man is dead after standoff at Kingsway Inn
• SIU investigating man's death after standoff at Thunder Bay hotel

The report continues: "The fact that he was actually alone, and unarmed, was unfortunately not determined until the room was entered the next morning and the complainant was already deceased."

In his decision, acting SIU director Joseph Martino says he agrees it was safer for police to attempt to contact the man from a distance instead of entering the room.

Police acted responsibly

The officer who was the subject of the SIU investigation, who is unnamed, "acted cautiously and responsibly" during the incident, and no charges should be laid, Martino writes.

The SIU is an arms length agency that investigates reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.