Sudbury police officer cleared of sex assault accusation

Special Investigations Unit (file image).

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has cleared a Sudbury police officer who was accused of sexual assault during an October 2022 arrest.

The complaint was made by a suspect who was arrested Oct. 2 last year during a traffic stop on Grandview Boulevard on numerous warrants.

Spending the night in police custody, the suspect was seen at 10 a.m. with a white substance in his hand.

“He was making attempts to conceal the substance in his anal region,” said the incident narrative released by the SIU.

“When the complainant was approached by the cell staff, he flushed the substance down the cell toilet.”

At that point, he was told he was going to be strip searched to ensure he didn’t have more drugs on him. When he refused to comply, he was grounded and handcuffed.

“At the conclusion of the search, the complainant admitted to consuming a quantity of fentanyl,” the SIU said.

“Paramedics responded and transported the complainant to Health Sciences North.”

While at the hospital, a doctor said the complainant had a right metacarpal fracture.

“The complainant indicated he was injured either during the arrest or the search,” the SIU said.

“The complainant also alleged sexual assault during the search.”

Those allegations sparked the investigation.

According to the report, during the strip search, a packet of fentanyl fell from the suspect’s “anus and scrotum when his boxer shorts were pulled below his buttocks.”

In his analysis, SIU director Joseph Martino wrote there were no cameras in the area where the strip search had taken place.

However, the suspect told other lies during the course of the evening, including his name and his claim that his hand injury was cause by police.

“This injury was initially diagnosed at hospital but ultimately determined to be an old injury,” Martino wrote.

And the sexual assault amounted to the officer removing fentanyl from the suspect’s anus, which was part of his job.

“In the result, as there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the (Sudbury police officer) comported himself other than lawfully in his dealings with the complainant,” he wrote.

“There is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case. The file is closed.”

Read the full report here.