British Columbia’s police watchdog is investigating after man suffered injuries from a broken window while being arrested in Nanaimo. The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. is seeking witnesses to the arrest on Sept. 12 in the city’s downtown. The police oversight agency says the RCMP was called to a complaint about a man refusing to leave a bar on Bastion Street near Commercial Street at around 10:45 p.m. “Upon arrival, officers located the man and then attempted to arrest him on the sidewalk outside the bar,” the IIO said in a statement Wednesday. “During the interaction with police, the man suffered an injury related to a broken glass window.” The man was taken to hospital for treatment and was later released, the statement said. The police watchdog was notified of the incident a short time later and has opened an investigation into the arrest. Investigators will work to determine whether the man’s injuries meet the threshold for “serious harm” under the Police Act and, if so, whether they were the result of police actions or inactions. Under the legislation, serious harm includes an injury that may result in death, disfigurement or the loss of function of a limb or organ. If the IIO determines that the injuries meet that threshold and are connected to police conduct, investigators will examine the available evidence to determine whether there are reasonable grounds to believe an offence was committed by police. Anyone with information or images related to the arrest is asked to contact IIO Witness Line at 1-855-446-8477 or via the contact form on the iiobc.ca website. The agency investigates all police-related incidents in B.C. involving death or serious harm, regardless of whether there is an allegation of wrongdoing by police.
