SYDNEY, N.S. -- Nova Scotia's police watchdog says charges will not be laid against two officers in Cape Breton involved in the arrest of a youth whose mother complained that excessive force was used.
The Serious Incident Response Team says it received a complaint from the boy's mother on Jan. 19 after he had been arrested for attempting to break into a parked transport trailer in Sydney.
In his statement, the youth acknowledged he and a friend were caught trying to break into the transport trailer and alleged he was punched and tripped by the officers with Cape Breton Regional Police after he was handcuffed.
The officers denied the allegations and accused the boy of resisting arrest, saying he might have suffered his injuries when he was taken to the ground to control him.
The watchdog says the youth and the police officers appeared credible, and video of what happened no longer existed by the time its investigators were informed of the matter.
But it says the video had been viewed by the owner of a nearby store who did not see the police do anything out of the ordinary.
The response team says the boy suffered abrasions to his face, as well as bruising to his abdomen and scalp.
It says medical evidence was consistent with both the youth's and the police officers' versions of what happened.
"As a result, it was determined that the facts did not justify the laying of any charge against either officer," the response team says in a statement.
