Ontario’s police oversight agency has closed an investigation into a standoff in Wallaceburg that ended with a man suffering a serious self-inflicted neck injury.
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said officers with the Chatham-Kent Police Service responded to a report of intimate partner violence on Wallace Street at around 2 a.m. on October 11, 2025, after screaming was heard coming from the backyard of a residence.
When police arrived, a 65-year-old man barricaded himself inside the home. Officers secured the area, and the CK police Emergency Response Team was called in to conduct negotiations with the suspect, who had threatened to harm himself.
Several hours later, at around 3 p.m., officers obtained a warrant and entered the home, leading the man cut his neck with a knife. Officers then used their conducted energy weapons to prevent the man from causing further injury to himself.
The suspect was rushed to the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance before being transferred to a Windsor hospital, where he was successfully treated for a life-threatening arterial bleed.
Due to the man’s injuries, the SIU was required to conduct an investigation and found that there were no reasonable grounds to believe that an officer committed a criminal offence.
In his report, SIU Director Joseph Martino said the officers conducted themselves with due care for the well-being of the suspect and for public safety.
The SIU is a civilian law enforcement agency in Ontario that investigates any incident involving police that has resulted in death, serious injury, the discharge of a firearm, or allegations of sexual assault.