IIO is Seeking Witnesses to January 2025 Arrest in Courtenay (2025-135)

INFORMATION BULLETIN
Independent Investigations Office
For Immediate Release

Surrey, B.C. — The Independent Investigations Office of BC (IIO) is seeking witnesses to the arrest of a man in Courtenay on January 5, 2025.

Information provided by the RCMP states, that at around 11 p.m., officers responded to a call about a possibly impaired driver in the 2300 block of Mansfield Drive. Police later located the SUV in question in the parking lot of a hotel in the 2200-block of Cliffe Avenue.

Officers located a man inside a Cadillac Escalade SUV and attempted to arrest him. There was then an interaction between the man and police while they detained him, and the man suffered an injury in the process.

He was then taken to the hospital for treatment.

There are two factors that the IIO considers at the beginning of each investigation:

1. If there has been an injury that meets the threshold of serious harm, as defined by the Police Act, or a death; and
2. If there is a connection between the serious harm/death and police action or inaction.

If both conditions are met, the investigation will continue to examine all available evidence to determine what occurred. At the conclusion of the investigation, the chief civilian director will also consider whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that an offence may have occurred.

The IIO is asking that any witnesses that have not already provided a statement, or who have video footage of the incident, to please contact the IIO at our Witness Line toll-free at 1-855-446-8477 or via the contact form on the iiobc.ca website.

Background

The IIO is the Independent civilian oversight agency of the police in British Columbia. It investigates all officer-related incidents that result in serious harm or death, whether or not there is any allegation of wrongdoing.

info@iiobc.ca