- 注册
- 2002-10-07
- 消息
- 402,179
- 荣誉分数
- 76
- 声望点数
- 0
Ottawa police Chief Charles Bordeleau is calling for the Ontario Provincial Police to investigate three senior police employees after allegations of fraud and evidence manipulation were made against them, the Citizen has learned.
On Monday, Ottawa lawyer Michael Edelson sent letters to Bordeleau, two Ontario cabinet ministers and the head of the OPP requesting an investigation into the actions of two senior Ottawa police officers and a lawyer in the force’s legal department.
Those letters detail the disclosure received by Edelson in his capacity as lawyer to then-acting Staff Sgt. Marty Rukavina, who was previously charged by the SIU — along with two other constables — after a tactical training explosion in Kanata that injured two officers and three paramedics in the summer of 2014.
The charges against Rukavina and the other officers were ultimately stayed, but during legal proceedings, disclosure provided to Edelson allegedly revealed that evidence in the case against the officers was changed by the force’s legal counsel.
The alleged evidence manipulation could have mitigated the force’s liability, suggesting instead the tactical officers on the day of the explosion weren’t following force policy or previous practices.
When reached just before noon on Monday, Bordeleau said he had not received “any such letter.” But this afternoon he sent an email to all officers that read:
“Earlier today, I was copied on a letter from defense lawyer Michael Edelson on behalf of three OPS members he represented in relation to an explosion during a tactical training exercise in 2014.
“In that letter and attached documents, Mr. Edelson makes a number of allegations about the conduct of members of the Ottawa Police Service, both named and unnamed. His letter, which was sent to the Attorney General and the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, asks that the Ontario Provincial Police be requested to investigate the matter.
“Some of the allegations in the letter were already known to the OPS and I initiated Chief’s Complaints after the staying by the Crown of the SIU criminal charges. Those Chief’s Complaints have been under active investigation.
“However, based on new information in the documentation and in the interest of transparency, I have contacted Commissioner Vince Hawkes of OPP, earlier today, and asked that all aspects of this matter be investigated by his police service.”
The revelations of alleged evidence manipulation stems back to the training incident on June 18, 2014. On that day, Ottawa police tactical officers were conducting a joint-training exercise with paramedics at an abandoned home on March Road. Officers, trying to force entry into the home using explosives, were engulfed by what officers later described to the Citizen as a “fireball” of gas.
More than a year later, in July 2015, the SIU charged Rukavina and two others –constables Carl Grimard and Serge Clement – with criminal negligence causing bodily harm and breach of duty to use reasonable care while handling explosives for the severe burns sustained by two of the paramedics. Yet just last September, the charges against all officers were stayed.
The disclosure received by the lawyers on the case revealed that evidence – namely a statement by an inspector saying that windshield washer fluid was used in similar training exercises before the explosion – was changed by the force’s legal counsel to expressly state that the fluid was never used by the force.
The letter makes allegations against three senior employees at the police service – a superintendent, an inspector and a lawyer employed by the service. The Citizen is not, at this point, naming the involved officers and the lawyer.
When the criminal charges against the tactical officers were stayed, a prosecutor who reviewed the charges laid by the SIU, said the charges should be stayed because of contradictions in evidence from the forces involved, apparent stonewalling by the RCMP and the conclusion that Ottawa police practice and training was “deficient and unsafe.”
To convict, the Crown would have had to prove the accused tactical officers were aware of the danger of using wiper fluid and gave no thought to the consequences
That didn’t appear possible, the prosecutor said, given the “long-standing and settled practice and training” at Ottawa police of using wiper fluid to fill the devices police use to blast their way into a structure.
The officers were following accepted practice and training and were not warned of the danger of the practice – which hasn’t resulted in any known history of similar fireballs, court heard at the time.
Rukavina was the scene commander. Clement and Grimard filled the device with windshield washer fluid.
According to the prosecutor, the police service told the SIU that using wiper fluid to fill the devices was an “accepted practice in explosive forced entry training” — which was confirmed by numerous members of its tactical unit.
While the SIU had been investigating any criminality in the training explosion, the ministry of labour was also conducting a parallel investigation. That labour investigation resulted in 10 Occupational Health and Safety Act charges being laid against the City of Ottawa and the Ottawa Police Services Board alleging that proper procedural and training precautions weren’t taken to prevent the explosion.
In a further twist, the Citizen has learned, the five labour charges laid against the police board were withdrawn last Thursday by the Crown, suggesting that both the civilian police watchdog and labour oversight authorities both, at one point, thought the evidence collected in their separate investigations warranted charges that have since evaporated. Five charges against the city had previously been stayed.
When asked if the SIU was aware of the fraud and evidence-manipulation allegations and if it referred the matter to the OPP, the SIU said it was “unable to comment with respect to the specific investigation in question.”
The police watchdog did say that generally “it is not unusual for law enforcement agencies conducting their own investigations for purposes of their own mandates to request SIU records if they believe they may be relevant.”
The SIU said the extent to which the independent civilian organization will cooperate is “determined on a case-by-case basis depending on the circumstances at hand.”
The Citizen has not yet received any comment from the other recipients of Edelson’s letter: Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Vince Hawkes, Attorney General Yasir Naqvi and Minister of Community Safety and Corrections Marie-France Lalonde.
Indeed, Naqvi’s office said it had not received the letter as of 2:15 p.m. Monday.
Police board chair Coun. Eli El-Chantiry was not immediately available for comment.
Rukavina told the Citizen that “this experience has been very difficult for myself and my family. I have tried to live and raise my family knowing that a higher standard was expected of me as a police officer.”
The officer said “it would be as inappropriate of me to comment to the media about this now, as it was for others who have done so in the past.” Rukavina said he did not want to “jeopardize any potential investigations” and referred any further questions to his lawyer.
The Citizen could not immediately reach Edelson.
Rod Sellar, who represents Grimard, said he could not comment on the matter. Grimard did not reply to a Citizen attempt to contact him.
Al O’Brien, who represents Clement, said he was not aware of any request for any investigation. Clement, also, did not reply to a Citizen attempt to contact him.
More to come.
syogaretnam@postmedia.com
twitter.com/shaaminiwhy
查看原文...
On Monday, Ottawa lawyer Michael Edelson sent letters to Bordeleau, two Ontario cabinet ministers and the head of the OPP requesting an investigation into the actions of two senior Ottawa police officers and a lawyer in the force’s legal department.
Those letters detail the disclosure received by Edelson in his capacity as lawyer to then-acting Staff Sgt. Marty Rukavina, who was previously charged by the SIU — along with two other constables — after a tactical training explosion in Kanata that injured two officers and three paramedics in the summer of 2014.
The charges against Rukavina and the other officers were ultimately stayed, but during legal proceedings, disclosure provided to Edelson allegedly revealed that evidence in the case against the officers was changed by the force’s legal counsel.
The alleged evidence manipulation could have mitigated the force’s liability, suggesting instead the tactical officers on the day of the explosion weren’t following force policy or previous practices.
When reached just before noon on Monday, Bordeleau said he had not received “any such letter.” But this afternoon he sent an email to all officers that read:
“Earlier today, I was copied on a letter from defense lawyer Michael Edelson on behalf of three OPS members he represented in relation to an explosion during a tactical training exercise in 2014.
“In that letter and attached documents, Mr. Edelson makes a number of allegations about the conduct of members of the Ottawa Police Service, both named and unnamed. His letter, which was sent to the Attorney General and the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, asks that the Ontario Provincial Police be requested to investigate the matter.
“Some of the allegations in the letter were already known to the OPS and I initiated Chief’s Complaints after the staying by the Crown of the SIU criminal charges. Those Chief’s Complaints have been under active investigation.
“However, based on new information in the documentation and in the interest of transparency, I have contacted Commissioner Vince Hawkes of OPP, earlier today, and asked that all aspects of this matter be investigated by his police service.”
The revelations of alleged evidence manipulation stems back to the training incident on June 18, 2014. On that day, Ottawa police tactical officers were conducting a joint-training exercise with paramedics at an abandoned home on March Road. Officers, trying to force entry into the home using explosives, were engulfed by what officers later described to the Citizen as a “fireball” of gas.
More than a year later, in July 2015, the SIU charged Rukavina and two others –constables Carl Grimard and Serge Clement – with criminal negligence causing bodily harm and breach of duty to use reasonable care while handling explosives for the severe burns sustained by two of the paramedics. Yet just last September, the charges against all officers were stayed.
The disclosure received by the lawyers on the case revealed that evidence – namely a statement by an inspector saying that windshield washer fluid was used in similar training exercises before the explosion – was changed by the force’s legal counsel to expressly state that the fluid was never used by the force.
The letter makes allegations against three senior employees at the police service – a superintendent, an inspector and a lawyer employed by the service. The Citizen is not, at this point, naming the involved officers and the lawyer.
When the criminal charges against the tactical officers were stayed, a prosecutor who reviewed the charges laid by the SIU, said the charges should be stayed because of contradictions in evidence from the forces involved, apparent stonewalling by the RCMP and the conclusion that Ottawa police practice and training was “deficient and unsafe.”
To convict, the Crown would have had to prove the accused tactical officers were aware of the danger of using wiper fluid and gave no thought to the consequences
That didn’t appear possible, the prosecutor said, given the “long-standing and settled practice and training” at Ottawa police of using wiper fluid to fill the devices police use to blast their way into a structure.
The officers were following accepted practice and training and were not warned of the danger of the practice – which hasn’t resulted in any known history of similar fireballs, court heard at the time.
Rukavina was the scene commander. Clement and Grimard filled the device with windshield washer fluid.
According to the prosecutor, the police service told the SIU that using wiper fluid to fill the devices was an “accepted practice in explosive forced entry training” — which was confirmed by numerous members of its tactical unit.
While the SIU had been investigating any criminality in the training explosion, the ministry of labour was also conducting a parallel investigation. That labour investigation resulted in 10 Occupational Health and Safety Act charges being laid against the City of Ottawa and the Ottawa Police Services Board alleging that proper procedural and training precautions weren’t taken to prevent the explosion.
In a further twist, the Citizen has learned, the five labour charges laid against the police board were withdrawn last Thursday by the Crown, suggesting that both the civilian police watchdog and labour oversight authorities both, at one point, thought the evidence collected in their separate investigations warranted charges that have since evaporated. Five charges against the city had previously been stayed.
When asked if the SIU was aware of the fraud and evidence-manipulation allegations and if it referred the matter to the OPP, the SIU said it was “unable to comment with respect to the specific investigation in question.”
The police watchdog did say that generally “it is not unusual for law enforcement agencies conducting their own investigations for purposes of their own mandates to request SIU records if they believe they may be relevant.”
The SIU said the extent to which the independent civilian organization will cooperate is “determined on a case-by-case basis depending on the circumstances at hand.”
The Citizen has not yet received any comment from the other recipients of Edelson’s letter: Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Vince Hawkes, Attorney General Yasir Naqvi and Minister of Community Safety and Corrections Marie-France Lalonde.
Indeed, Naqvi’s office said it had not received the letter as of 2:15 p.m. Monday.
Police board chair Coun. Eli El-Chantiry was not immediately available for comment.
Rukavina told the Citizen that “this experience has been very difficult for myself and my family. I have tried to live and raise my family knowing that a higher standard was expected of me as a police officer.”
The officer said “it would be as inappropriate of me to comment to the media about this now, as it was for others who have done so in the past.” Rukavina said he did not want to “jeopardize any potential investigations” and referred any further questions to his lawyer.
The Citizen could not immediately reach Edelson.
Rod Sellar, who represents Grimard, said he could not comment on the matter. Grimard did not reply to a Citizen attempt to contact him.
Al O’Brien, who represents Clement, said he was not aware of any request for any investigation. Clement, also, did not reply to a Citizen attempt to contact him.
More to come.
syogaretnam@postmedia.com
twitter.com/shaaminiwhy
查看原文...
