Ontario officers charged over death in custody

OPP, London members remain on job

LONDON, ONT. • Two Ontario police officers who have been charged in the 2016 death of a woman who was in custody are still on the job.

Ontario’s police watchdog announced on Thursday Ontario Provincial Police Const. Mark McKillop and London police Const. Nicholas Doering are charged with criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessaries of life in the death of Debra Chrisjohn.

London police arrested Chrisjohn, 39, on Sept. 7, 2016, near Trafalgar Street and Highbury Avenue in the east end of London. She had allegedly been obstructing traffic.

She was transferred on an outstanding warrant into the custody of Elgin County OPP, the Special Investigations Unit said.

Elgin OPP officers took Chrisjohn to the St. Thomas Elgin General hospital at 7:52 p.m. where she was pronounced dead less than an hour later, the SIU said.

McKillop, a six-year OPP veteran, remains on active duty, said OPP spokeswoman Crystal Jones.

Jones declined to answer questions about the investigation, citing the charges are before the court.

“The public trust and confidence is the cornerstone of the OPP,” she said.

A London police spokesperson said Doering has been placed on administrative duties.

Doering was one of 231 London police employees — 180 of them constables — to make Ontario’s so-called Sunshine List of public employees who earn more than $100,000 a year. He was paid $119,359 last year, according to a report presented to the police services board in March.

Cindy Chrisjohn has said her sister led a troubled life with drug addiction and scrapes with the law. A mother of 11 children and grandmother of two, she lived with their father on Oneida first nations.

She said Debra had started on methadone for her drug addiction, had two of her children living with her, was looking to go back to school and had joined an event-planning committee on Oneida.

Cindy is suing the London police for $100,000 after she was wrongfully identified as Debra and arrested three years ago. Debra, who had been arrested at a London Walmart for shoplifting, had given police Cindy’s name and birth date. When she failed to show up for a first court appearance, police arrested Cindy.

Doering is the fourth London police officer to be criminally charged — the third by the SIU — in the past two months.

In May, the SIU charged Const. Theresa Clayton with assault causing bodily harm and charged Const. Jeff Lake with assault following the June 16 arrest that injured a 40-year-old man.

Both officers remain on the job.

Formed in 1990, the SIU investigates reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.