Officers charged in death of woman still on payroll
One on administrative, another on active duty as SIU probe continues
LONDON, ONT. Two police officers charged in the 2016 death of an Oneida woman remain on the job, one of them still on active duty.
Ontario’s police watchdog announced Thursday London police Const. Nicholas Doering and OPP Const. Mark McKillop are charged with criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessaries of life in the death of Debra Chrisjohn.
McKillop, a six-year OPP veteran, remains on active duty, while Doering has been assigned to administrative duties, said police spokespersons, both of whom declined to comment further, citing the SIU probe.
Chrisjohn, 39, died Sept. 7, 2016, after she was arrested in east London by London police and then turned over to Elgin County OPP on an outstanding warrant, the Special Investigations Unit said. She was taken to St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital where she died that night, the SIU said.
The SIU investigates cases involving police resulting in injury or death.
Robert Chrisjohn, Debra’s father, said in a statement released by their lawyer that the family was devastated by her death and has many unanswered questions.
“Why didn’t the police take her to the hospital sooner when they
knew she was sick and needed help? The police arrested her and were responsible for making sure she was OK. This happens way too often in our community. This happens all the time. The police just don’t seem to care.”
Caitlyn Kasper, a staff lawyer at Aboriginal Legal Services who represents the family, said the charges against the officers are the start of a long legal process that will be difficult for Debra Chrisjohn’s family.
“Aboriginal Legal Services has long been concerned with the relationship between Indigenous communities and the police. This is an important issue not just for Debra’s family, but for all Indigenous People across Ontario.”
Chrisjohn was the mother of 11 children and the grandmother of two children. Her family has she said battled addiction and had frequent scrapes with the law, but was trying to turn around her life before she died.
Chrisjohn had started on methadone, planned to go back to school and was living with her father on the Oneida Nation of the Thames First Nation southwest of London, her younger sister Cindy Chrisjohn told The London Free Press last September.
Debra Chrisjohn had joined an event-planning committee in the community, her sister said.
Cindy Chrisjohn said in September the family had many questions about her sister’s death. They had been told Debra Chrisjohn had been arrested, went into “medical distress” and was taken to St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital.
“I just don’t want her situation to fall on deaf ears. I really want a good investigation into this. I want followup,” Cindy Chrisjohn said.
She said she feared her sister’s death would “swept under the rug ” because she was Indigenous.
Family members last saw Debra Chrisjohn in downtown London the day she died and she “didn’t look good,” Cindy Chrisjohn said.
The SIU said a London police officer responded to a report of a woman obstructing traffic near Trafalgar Street and Highbury Avenue in the late afternoon on Sept. 7, 2016.
The officer arrested Chrisjohn and transferred her to the custody of Elgin County OPP on an outstanding warrant, the SIU said.
Paramedics took Chrisjohn, 39, to the St. Thomas Elgin General hospital shortly before 8 p.m.. where she died less than an hour later, the SIU said.
Citing the charges before the court, the SIU said it’s not releasing any further information about the case, one of 63 investigations the watchdog opened involving OPP and civic police officers in Southwestern Ontario last year.
The watchdog laid charges against 20 police officers in 17 incidents across Ontario in 2016, a charge rate of 5.3 per cent of the 296 cases the SIU completed last year.
One police watcher says allowing charged officers to keep working erodes public trust in police.
“How can someone from the public feel safe when there’s an officer out there ... who has been charged with a criminal offence?” said Erick Laming, a University of Toronto doctoral student specializing in policing issues.
“It’s very rare to see officers who have been criminally charged be on active duty,” he said.
Doering is the fourth London police officer to be criminally charged — the third by the SIU — in the past two months. All remain on the job.
Ontario is the only province in Canada that requires suspended officers to still be paid, Laming said.