The Special Investigations Unit cleared police officers of any wrongdoing Wednesday in four cases in the GTA dating back to 2016.

In November 2016, an 18-year-old passenger in a suspect vehicle was hurt when the car she was in crashed into a tree during a police chase.

The vehicle took the Weston Rd. exit on Highway 407, travelling at about 125 kilometres per hour. The driver ran a red light, “crossed over the median into the northbound lanes and crashed into a tree on the east side” of the road.

The driver fled the scene, leaving the victim trapped in the front passenger seat. The woman was pulled out by firefighters and taken to hospital, where she was treated for a fractured right ankle.

“I find that (police) had reasonable grounds to attempt to stop and investigate the black Audi for a number of (Highway Traffic Act)infractions and that the (suspect) actively attempted to evade the police officers,” wrote SIU director Tony Loparco.

The police watchdog also determined that no criminal charges were warranted in a February 2017 case in which a 49-year-old man was seriously injured.

The report said police attended to a call of two men fighting on a residential street in Brampton at around 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 20.

When police arrived on scene, they saw one man who matched the description walking in the area.

The officer decided to disarm the suspect by using the “hip toss technique” he had learned during his training and “took the (suspect) to the ground, whereupon the (suspect) let go of a knife he had been holding.”

The suspect suffered a broken orbital bone and received three stitches to a cut above his eye. The suspect’s blood alcohol level was found to be three times the legal limit. A large kitchen knife was seized from the suspect.

“I find that his behaviour was justified in the circumstances and that he used no more force than necessary to ensure his own safety and to disarm the (suspect), who was armed with a knife and appeared to be reaching for it at the time that the (officer) took him to the ground,” Loparco wrote in the report.

The third case involved a 52-year-old man injured after colliding with a police cruiser that had swung into a bike lane on the Leaside Bridge on Oct. 14, 2017. The cruiser had pulled over because somebody had jumped off the bridge.

While the driver of the cruiser was speaking to a witness, the officer in the passenger seat remained in the car. As the cyclist approached the car, the front door “swung open directly into his path” and the man collided with it and fell onto the sidewalk. The man was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with four fractured ribs.

“It is clear that the (officer) was at fault in that he opened his door without first ensuring that he was not endangering or interfering with any persons who were travelling in the clearly marked bicycle lane,” Loparco wrote.

However, the SIU found that, the officer’s actions were not a “departure from the norm” or that he acted with “a reckless disregard for the lives and safety of others.”

“I cannot find reasonable grounds to believe that any criminal offence was committed here,” Loparco wrote.

In the final update, the SIU cleared the officers involved in a case where a 32-year-old man sustained serious injuries during his arrest.

Officers were called to an apartment building on April 12, 2017 just after midnight for a dispute involving three individuals. Two officers arrived at the scene and arrested a man, who was later taken to hospital with fractures to his cheekbone and eye socket.

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The SIU found that no excessive force was used in the arrest because the suspect was clearly resisting arrest and had assaulted the officers multiple times.

“It is clear from the CCTV footage that both police officers had to use all of their strength to subdue the complainant and that the struggle was long and hard fought,” Loparco wrote.

“While it is unfortunate that the (suspect) suffered the serious injury that he did, I find that the two police officers were left with little choice other than to arrest (him) after he had assaulted the officer and caused him injury, they were duty bound to subdue and apprehend him,” Loparco continued. “It was his own assaultive and combative behaviour which led to his ultimate injuries.”

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