Director defends SIU charges
Watchdog disagrees with Crown, police force over incident at hospital
The head of the civilian police watchdog is standing by the decision to charge two Ottawa police officers with assault even though the Crown has withdrawn the very same charges he laid against them.
In a statement to the Citizen, the Special Investigations Unit said that director Tony Loparco “respectfully disagrees with the decision made in this case.”
That decision was made Friday when Crown prosecutors withdrew assault charges against Ottawa police constables Erin Cavan and Jordan Blonde, citing no reasonable prospect of conviction.
The charges stemmed from a May 1, 2014 incident at the Queensway-Carleton Hospital, where the two officers were helping a nurse search a man’s body for hard drugs after he was arrested. Ismael Awaleh, 32, complained he suffered a broken hand during his arrest, but the fracture was later proven to have occurred before the altercation. The complainant in the case, Awaleh, who had also been charged with assaulting police in the same interaction, has since been deported.
“Notwithstanding the absence of the complainant, director Loparco is of the view that there was a reasonable prospect of conviction,” the statement from the SIU said.
The statement did not address Loparco’s decision to lay the charges, which has been a hot-button issue among the local force.
Chief Charles Bordeleau had said he was seeking justification for the charges when they were first laid in early November of last year, about six months after the hospital incident.
When asked for his reaction to the Crown’s move, Bordeleau said he was “pleased with the final outcome” and defended the actions of his officers, saying that the decision to withdraw the assault charges “was the right one.”
Bordeleau declined to make any further comment.
Police union president Matt Skof has long said the criminal charges against Cavan and Blonde should not have been laid since the officers were performing their policing duties.
In a notice to officers sent by the union Friday and obtained by the Citizen, Skof said “the Crown withdrew the charges due to the lack of evidence provided by the SIU.”
“As we move forward, the OPA will continue to challenge the SIU and ensure that the rights of our members are protected,” the bulletin continued.