No charges against officers after suspect’s fall

Manitoba’s police watchdog has ruled officers will not face charges after a man sustained serious injuries while being arrested.

Winnipeg Police Service officers were sent to a suite in the 200 block of Bertrand Street on July 10 of last year regarding a man “in crisis who was armed with an edged weapon,” the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba said in a news release Wednesday.

After the man was handcuffed, at about 9:30 p.m., officers were escorting him out of the building when he broke away and fell down the stairs. Officers provided first aid and called for an ambulance.

The man was sent to Health Sciences Centre in critical condition and treated for a “possible traumatic brain injury,” the release stated.

Six officers, two civilian witnesses and the affected person were spoken to by investigators before the civilian director made the decision to not authorize charges. The investigation is now considered closed.