IIO seeks witnesses after man injured during arrest outside Nanaimo bar 

The Independent Investigations Office of BC (IIO) is seeking witnesses following the arrest of a man outside a Nanaimo bar on Saturday.

The arrest occurred at approximately 10:45 p.m. on September 12th, when police received a call about a man refusing to leave a bar on Bastion Street near Commercial Street.

According to RCMP, police located the man upon responding to the call and attempted to arrest him on the sidewalk outside the establishment.

The man suffered an injury related to a broken glass window during the interaction. He was then taken to hospital and subsequently released.

The IIO was notified shortly after the interaction and has launched an investigation.

Investigators are now asking anyone who witnessed the arrest or has video footage to contact the IIO.

The IIO says there are two factors that are considered at the beginning of each investigation.

The first is to ascertain whether an injury meets the threshold of serious harm, as defined by the Police Act, or if there is a death.

The second is to ascertain whether there is a connection between that serious injury or death and a police officer’s action or inaction.

If both of these conditions are met, the IIO says the investigation will continue to examine available evidence to determine what occurred.

Once the evidence has been evaluated, the chief civilian director will consider whether there are reasonable grounds to believe an offence may have occurred.

The IIO is asking any witnesses who have information about the matter to contact the IIO Witness Line at 1-855-446-8477 or via the contact form on their website.