The force used by police during the arrest on campus last October was ruled “appropriate” by London Police Service yesterday.

The decision comes after months of investigation into the arrest in the Social Science Centre. Hours after the event, a video of the arrest was posted on YouTube by an assistant professor who had recorded it on a cell phone.

WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST ASK ME? London police chief Murray Faulkner reacts to a question from the media during a scrum in his office yesterday morning. Faulkner was discussing the conclusions of an investigation of police conduct during the arrest of a Western student in the Social Science Centre in October.

London police chief Murray Faulkner defended what many have described as a “takedown.” He cited the Use of Force model used by police in Ontario.

“Unlike what you see on the video, I’m going to start at square one and fill in all the holes,” he said.

The first step was physical force, which failed to stop the suspect. The officers then switched to pepper spray, using two bursts in the suspect’s face at the start of the conflict.

“This had absolutely no effect. The male was able to break free from the two [campus police officers],” Faulkner said.

Pepper spray is considered an intermediate weapon used after physical force is unsuccessful. The officers then used a baton, which was also ineffective.

“[The video] does not look good. But looks are not how I have to judge things,” Faulkner concluded.

The suspect’s lawyer, Phillip Millar, questioned the report and the use of pepper spray.

“The officer contaminated himself [with pepper spray] too. Who knows where it hit,” he said. “We can’t read the report. All we can get is what the Chief said.”

Once the student was pulled to the floor of the SSC, one officer kneed the suspect in the rear repeatedly. Faulkner said the strikes were to “the large, fleshy area of the body” to cause distraction and discomfort. Another officer used fists and baton strikes to the suspect’s shoulder, attempting to free the right arm.

“The suspect, at this time, was able to stay in a position which allowed him to maintain strength and balance,” Faulkner continued.

Millar argued the suspect had “cognitive impairment” — when an individual cannot understand instructions because of mental health issues, alcohol or drugs.

“There’s got to be some obligation [for police] to understand that maybe the person is not understanding the commands,” Millar said.

After police freed the suspect’s arm, the arrest was made.

“The male became lucid enough to speak to the officers about the occurrence but he had no recollection of this incident at all,” Faulkner explained.

Last month, charges against 22-year-old Irnes Zeljkovic were stayed in adult therapeutic court with a number of conditions.

Campus police director Elgin Austin explained the suspect was mentally unstable, which could explain why pepper spray was ineffective.

“There’s two kinds of people that pepper spray doesn’t work on. People that are high on drugs and  [people] under a psychotic kind of event,” he said, adding drugs were not involved in this incident. “Ordinarily [pepper spray is] very effective. If it doesn’t work, you know you have a really big problem.”

Austen added these kinds of suspects might have “super strength” related to the condition.

“It’s just something that comes along with this type of episode. It’s going to be very startling.”

Western’s next steps are not related to the campus police officers, but to addressing mental illness on campus.

“Early intervention on these kinds of issues is really important when trying to keep people healthy,” Austen said. “In this particular case, after the student charged the officers, there’s really nothing different that they could have done.”