Ontario ombudsman sorry for naming wrong detective
Different officer source of offensive tweets
Ontario’s ombudsman apologized Wednesday for wrongly naming a Durham region detective as the culprit behind a series of offensive tweets, an incident that led to a public tiff between the watchdog and the police force.
Andre Marin publicly identified a police officer who he believed was behind a Twitter account using the fake name “Joe Mayo” that was directing offensive messages at him.
The tweets appeared on Aug. 8, before Marin was to give a news conference on the death of 18-year-old Sammy Yatim in a police shooting on a Toronto streetcar.
Marin took to Twitter minutes before the news conference to identify Det.-Const. Scott Dennis as the source of the tweets calling Marin a “card carrying member of alQaida” and telling him not to stick his nose “in business it doesn’t belong.”
The ombudsman also tweeted Dennis’ badge number and salary.
But the Durham police force said Monday Dennis was on annual leave at the time and did not know about the account, which investigators said was set up by a fellow officer without his knowledge or consent.
As of Tuesday, Marin said he didn’t see the need at the time for an apology to the wrongly accused officer, but after police officials met Wednesday with members of the ombudsman’s staff and gave them “concrete information” exonerating Dennis, Marin said he was sorry.
“Their investigation is still ongoing,” Marin wrote in a statement. “However, they provided their assurance that they are confident, based on the digital, witness and other evidence they have gathered, that Det.-Const. Scott Dennis — whose name and badge number were used to create the Twitter account in question — was in no way responsible for it.”
Marin said he reached out to Dennis and also spoke to the officer’s lawyer. “In light of this information, I apologize to Det.-Const. Dennis for any distress that my role in this matter may have caused him and his family,” the ombudsman said.
Durham police haven’t named the officer who they believe is responsible, but say the detective, who is facing disciplinary charges, remains on duty.