Vancouver officer cleared by watchdog after man’s leg is broken during confrontation

SURREY — British Columbia’s police watchdog says a Vancouver officer will not face charges after a struggle with an intoxicated man resulted in a severely broken leg.

The Independent Investigations Office says in a report released Friday that it happened on Jan. 25, when a man who admitting to drinking 10 beers began harassing and making sexual comments toward a female officer on a city street.

The report says a male officer intervened when he saw the man draw back a fist and the suspect was taken to the ground, resulting in multiple fractures of his leg, including one where a bone pierced through the skin of his calf.

The report says the man told medical staff that his leg had been stepped on while on the ground, but he told investigators that officers had kicked him, making him fall to the ground.

One of the two paramedics who attended the scene says when they applied a splint to the man’s leg and tried to realign the bone, the man didn’t flinch, indicating he was “quite intoxicated.”

The report says the injuries did not support the man’s allegations that he was kicked by police, adding that his behaviour was “resistant and potentially assaultive” and the male officer was acting lawfully in putting the man on the ground.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2025.