York police taking over criminal investigation into lawyer’s alleged assault by police at Oshawa courthouse
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Ontario’s police watchdog says it is not investigating the case of a lawyer who is alleging that multiple Durham Regional Police Service officers slammed her head on a desk without provocation and dragged her to the basement cells of the Oshawa courthouse last week.
In response to questions from CBC News, Special Investigations Unit (SIU) spokesperson Kristy Denette said that Durham police notified the SIU about the incident involving defence lawyer Sudine Riley on Tuesday, but the agency has not invoked its mandate “at this time.”
“The SIU’s investigative jurisdiction is limited to those incidents involving officials where there is a serious injury, death, allegation of sexual assault or discharge of a firearm by an official at a person,” Denette said.
According to the SIU’s website, the agency considers an injury to be serious if it is “likely to interfere with the person’s health or comfort and is not transient or trifling in nature.”
Examples include an injury resulting in a hospital admission, fractures to the skull or to a limb, rib or vertebra, burns to a “significant portion” of a person’s body, as well as the loss of any part of a person’s body or a loss of vision or hearing.
Durham police say the service is working with court services to obtain and review all evidence of the incident. Multiple legal agencies have issued statements condemning the alleged attack and calling for an independent investigation.
In a statement issued Thursday afternoon, Durham police officials said Riley had been charged with an offence under the Trespass to Property Act, and noted an investigation is ongoing.
“For both the integrity of the investigation, and to relieve any concerns, the officers involved have been reassigned to duties that do not include courthouse security,” the statement reads.
“However, they are entitled to due process during this investigation, as required by law.”
In a post to social media Friday, Durham police said the allegations related to Riley’s arrest extend beyond claims of misconduct and include criminal allegations.
“DRPS had already contacted the York Regional Police, should their investigative services be required,” the police service said. “In light of the new information, DRPS has now formally referred the matter to the York Regional Police Service for a criminal investigation.”
Durham police added it has also been in contact with the Inspector General of Policing in Ontario.
A lawyer is alleging she was violently attacked and dragged to the cells of Oshawa’s courthouse late last week, seemingly for no reason. (Michael Cole/CBC)
Riley, through a statement issued by her lawyer, Neha Chugh, said she was working in an interview room at the courthouse last Friday when uniformed officers “challenged her presence” in the room.
In the statement, Chugh said police, who were working as security, slammed Riley’s head on the desk and put their knees on her back and neck, and spoke to her with “rage, disrespect, and contempt.”
She said officers then forcibly “dragged” Riley from the room in handcuffs and took her to the basement cells of the courthouse.
“Her head scarf was ripped off, her skirt was raised when she was handled by officers, and her head was bleeding and her eye swollen from being slammed into the desk,” Chugh’s statement reads.
“She committed no offence other than being a Black woman practising law, being diligent about her commitment to the pursuit of justice.”
Police association hits back at ‘opportunistic conduct’
In a statement on behalf of the Durham Regional Police Association (DRPA) on Friday morning, president Andrew Tummonds said members requested the matter be referred to the province’s police watchdog.
“Our Association does not fear transparency,” Tummonds said in the statement to CBC News. “Although the SIU has declined to investigate, we remain committed to a full review by an independent outside agency.”
The police association statement critiques a few select members of the local bar that it says partook in “opportunistic conduct.”
“It is both hypocritical and professionally distasteful to see criminal defence lawyers — individuals whose entire careers are built on the ‘presumption of innocence’ — abandon that principle the moment it suits their political agenda or personal brand,” Tummonds said.
“It is particularly galling that as these lawyers stand on their soapboxes today to disparage our profession, they do so under the protection of the very officers they are baselessly attacking,” he said. “We stand firmly with our officers and look forward to the facts of the investigation.”
