Police watchdog clears officers in man’s falling death in London, Ont.

LONDON, Ont. — Ontario’s police watchdog has cleared officers of any wrongdoing in the falling death of a 27-year-old man in London, Ont.

The Special Investigations Unit says officers were dispatched to a high-rise apartment building on May 5 from a woman who was worried about her son’s well-being.

The SIU says officers were not able to get inside the apartment on the 15th floor, but were able to talk to him by phone.

The agency says the man was on the balcony and scaled to a balcony below him and then to the balcony below that.

The SIU says when he tried to get to the next balcony below he lost his grip and fell to the ground.

The agency says the man died in hospital.

SIU director Joseph Martino says there are no reasonable grounds to believe police officers committed a criminal offence related to the man’s death.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2020.

The Canadian Press