The Ottawa Police Service is consulting with the Crown Attorney’s office after Ontario’s highest court ruled twice in as many weeks that officers seriously breached fundamental Charter rights of people in their custody.
In two separate cases, the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned convictions on a man and woman who were found guilty of drug-related charges because their constitutional rights were severely violated by a number of police officers.
In one of the cases, police officers did not inform Eneida Pino of her right to speak to legal counsel after her arrest and then held her in a cell for almost five-and-a-half hours before letting her speak to a lawyer, which is a violation of section 10b of the Charter.
In the other case, Philippe McGuffie waited for more than an hour to see a lawyer and one officer “gratuitously assaulted” him during a cell block strip search by standing on his ankles, the court ruled.
Read Joe Lofaro’s full article: Metro Ottawa
