N.B. RCMP officer did not commit crime while breaking man’s nose in arrest: watchdog

New Brunswick’s police watchdog says an RCMP officer who broke a man’s nose during an arrest did not commit a crime.

The Serious Incident Response Team (SiRT) investigated after an officer injured a man while police executed a search warrant at a residence in Moncton on June 2.

The watchdog’s report says one of the four people at the residence did not co-operate with police and the officer pinned him against a forklift and took him to the ground, breaking his nose.

It also says the man who was injured told SiRT he has a hearing impairment and did not know what the officer was saying to him.

The watchdog found the officer acted reasonably while using force to secure the man in handcuffs because the man did not follow his commands.

New Brunswick RCMP said a 55-year-old Moncton man was injured during the intervention and later charged with 38 offences, including 25 counts of possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000.