Police constable docked for discreditable conduct
Officer will forfeit 10 days' pay after altercation with teenagers
Const. Pierre Fournier will forfeit 10 days' pay for discreditable conduct over a verbal and physical altercation with a group of dirt-biking Greely teenagers in April 2021 that fell “well below” police expectations, according to a ruling last week.
Fournier said he was “shocked” by the penalty imposed at the Ottawa police disciplinary hearing by the presiding officer, retired superintendent Chris Renwick, and said he intends to appeal the decision, released Friday at the conclusion of a lengthy tribunal process.
Fournier was off-duty and on extended medical leave on April 24, 2021 when he “engaged” the six teenagers after he and his twin brother “happened upon” the youths riding through his friend's commercial gravel pit in Greely, according to Renwick's summary of the incident.
“Unfortunately, Const. Fournier was met with defiance from the outset and his actions turned to detaining one of the youths, using profanity and mocking words, and ultimately hands-on pushing and shoving with one of the youths, who was 15 years of age.”
Despite Fournier's “good intention to intervene,” Renwick ruled, “his behaviour quickly fell well below the expectation that the public demands in its police officers. His language and conduct were unprofessional, particularly in confronting youth, and his actions caused the incident to escalate to a physical confrontation.”
The “improper” detention violated the youth's charter rights and the incident “tarnished” Fournier's reputation and that of the Ottawa Police Service, according to submissions from prosecutor Vanessa Stewart.
In his ruling, Renwick acknowledged that the long-standing issue of local youths riding motocross bikes and trespassing on private properties has been a “polarizing flashpoint” in the rural community.
He also recognized there was “provocation” from the “defiant” teenagers, who were “knowingly trespassing and taking evasive measures to conceal their identity and avoid consequences.”
Renwick said he was “clearly impressed” by the 21 letters filed in support of Fournier last month from his Greely neighbours, area farmers, landowners and fellow police officers.
Fournier arrived to his sentencing hearing in February with a roomful of supporters, including his identical twin brother, Guy Fournier, who was initially implicated in the altercation but was later cleared. Both brothers were charged at first with assault and mischief, though all criminal charges were withdrawn as the Ottawa Crown attorney's office deemed it was not in the public interest to pursue a conviction
Letters of support filed at the tribunal from the owners of two sand and gravel pits “speak to the years of frustration and absence of a police solution,” Renwick wrote in his ruling, along with their “diminished perception of the ability of the OPS to protect their interests.”
While “it cannot be denied that this has caused some damage to the reputation of the OPS with rural landowners... (the incident) has brought the reputation of the OPS into disrepute,” Renwick wrote.
“There is a right way for a member of the police to engage. Improperly detaining, using profane, mocking language, and allowing the escalation to physical contact is not acceptable and has indeed tarnished the reputation of the OPS.”
Fournier's misconduct during the incident, Renwick ruled, “eclipses the damage of perceived police inaction to a community problem.”
Renwick said it is “imperative that the public has faith in its police service and that officers behave in a professional manner. That did not happen here with Const. Fournier's behaviour falling well below reasonable expectation.”
In a phone interview Monday, Fournier said he was “very disappointed” in the ruling and is planning to mount an appeal.
“I have integrity and if I did something I would own up to it. I didn't do anything wrong,” he said.
Fournier took issue with the prosecutor during a February hearing that became heated at times, where Stewart called for a 40-day forfeiture of pay and erroneously added a penalty of 15 hours' pay for the charge of insubordination.
Fournier was not convicted of that charge, and Stewart withdrew the suggested penalty.
At the same hearing, Fournier, through his counsel and fellow Const. Cedric Nizman, said he should forfeit “zero” pay and demanded apologies from the prosecutor, from the head of the OPS professional standards unit and from the Ottawa Police Association, while also calling for a faceto-face meeting with Chief Eric Stubbs.
In his ruling, Renwick said that position was “not specifically contained in the menu of available dispositions” and was not a “viable sanction.”
Nizman said the tribunal's guilty verdict “failed the public and has made Const. Fournier into a scapegoat by his own employer.”
Improperly detaining ... and allowing the escalation to physical contact is not acceptable and has indeed tarnished the reputation of the OPS.
Fournier, in an interview, maintained he wants to meet with the chief to explain his side of the story and to underscore the “inconsistency” in the tribunal process by alleging other cases of police misconduct that have gone unreported in the media.
He said the prosecutor's proposal of forfeiting 40 days' pay was “way out of line” with previous tribunal penalties and said he was offered a pre-hearing deal to plead guilty and forfeit 18 hours' pay. He said he also declined another mid-tribunal deal to forfeit 12 hours' pay.