(ADAM PROSKIW / iNFOnews.ca)

The provincial police watchdog has cleared an RCMP officer of any wrongdoing after a drunk Enderby man was injured during an arrest last year.

According to an Oct. 4 Independent Investigations Office decision, the unnamed man injured himself and was taken to hospital because he fell while being arrested in November 2021.

The decision said Enderby RCMP had arrested the man and taken him into custody late on the evening of Nov. 23, 2021. The man was released at 7:30 a.m. the next day but one hour later a call came in saying he was drunk "again."

The witness told the investigator the man had arrived with half a bottle of vodka and quickly drank the remaining half and then refused to leave.

They said was "uttering threats about 'burning the house' and 'kicking people’s asses.'"

Three police officers arrived and attempted to arrest the man.

While he was in handcuffs walking toward the police vehicle to fell and was seriously injured.

The man told the police watchdog he was placed in handcuffs and thrown to the ground.

However, several civilian witnesses reported otherwise.

Two witnesses said they saw the RCMP push the man before he fell but one said it did not look aggressive and the officer was holding him as he "fell slowly to the ground."

They also said the road was wet and muddy and full of potholes.

One police officer said his colleague was walking the man to the car when his legs crossed under him. The officer said his colleague was trying to hold him up rather than pushing him down.

Another officer said the man came "crashing down" after he lost his balance.

The decision said the Independent Investigations Office does not mandate RCMP officers to submit their notes, reports and data. And in this case, RCMP being investigated declined to provide any account to the watchdog.

The decision said the man was transported to hospital but he was belligerent and uncooperative and staff were not able to treat his injury.

The police watchdog decided that the man had fallen awkwardly and the RCMP's actions weren't heavy-handed.

"The evidence as a whole, then, establishes that (the) intoxicated (man) either completely by accident on the uneven, slippery ground, or possibly taken down by (the RCMP officer) in response to his resistance and the officer was trying to support him as he went down," the decision read.

"The injury he suffered was not the result of any exertion of unjustified or unreasonable force against him," the watchdog concluded.

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