All city police Neglect of Duty charges dismissed

CITY POLICE NEWS RELEASE ************************* At a Police Services Act hearing today by teleconference, Hearing Officer Terry Kelly found no evidence to support Neglect of Duty charges against four (4) Sault Ste.

CITY POLICE

NEWS RELEASE

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At a Police Services Act hearing today by teleconference, Hearing Officer Terry Kelly found no evidence to support Neglect of Duty charges against four (4) Sault Ste. Marie Police officers in a complex fatal motor vehicle collision involving pedestrian, Matthew Howard.

In his decision, Hearing Officer Kelly stated: “Given the comments by the Service Prosecutor and having carefully studied the totality of the evidence placed before me, I did not find any basis for any misconduct on the part of these four officers. It is my opinion that no negligence was shown by any of the officers investigating this very tragic accident. The evidence clearly shows that all the officers involved followed all the proper procedures and were not found to have deviated from Service protocol. In the circumstances, they behaved with courtesy and compassion.”

“Therefore, this case is dismissed and I find Inspector Art Pluss, Badge #205; Sergeant Joseph Trudeau, Badge #216; Constable Darren Sirie, Badge #277; and Constable William Freeman, Badge #255; not guilty of the charges.

The only other matter remaining before the tribunal is one count of Discreditable Conduct contrary to Ontario Regulation 286/10, Code of Conduct section 2(1)(a)(xi) against Sergeant J. Trudeau of the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service.

This charge is put over to Friday, February 3, 2012 at 8:00 a.m. to be dealt with by a teleconference hearing.

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