Two police officers in Smiths Falls, Ont. have been placed on administrative duties after video surfaced of a physical altercation between an officer and a woman already in handcuffs in a police cruiser.
It stems from the arrest of a 29-year-old woman who is facing charges in connection with a disturbance in the community southwest of Ottawa on Saturday.
A video later surfaced on social media showing an officer drag a woman by her legs out of a cruiser and pin her to the ground.
Smiths Falls Police Chief Jodi Empey said in a statement Monday afternoon that the investigation is being referred to another police service.
“At the initial stages of our investigation, in accordance with O.Reg 401/23, we conducted a conflict of interest assessment of this matter to assess if an actual institutional conflict exists,” said Empey.
“It was identified that regardless of any measure put in place to ensure impartiality, it would be impossible to guarantee ‘that an informed and reasonable person would believe that a member of our service who must take action or make a decision in the situation could do so impartially.’ As such, we have determined this matter to be an institutional conflict and therefore must refer it to another police service for investigation.”
Empey said both officers involved in the arrest have been placed on administrative duties until the completion of the investigation.
Woman’s family calls for answers
The woman’s sister, Sarah Black, identified her as Rebecca McNaughton in an interview with CTV News Ottawa.
“I’m speaking on behalf myself and our family. We are horrified, sickened and heartbroken. This video is inexcusable. We aren’t debating whether or not she should have been arrested, but nobody deserves to be treated with such retaliatory violence,” Black said.
The incident began at around 9 p.m. Saturday, when officers were called to a residence on Lombard Street in relation to a complaint about a woman who had assaulted and uttered threats towards the occupant of the home.
At approximately 11 p.m., police were called to a business on Main Street East.
Police say the call was “regarding the same female causing a disturbance, who allegedly threw a table hitting the wall and was belligerent to staff and customers.”
“Upon investigation, the female was arrested for causing a disturbance and mischief after determining the table was damaged as a result,” police said.
Police say the woman was placed in the back of the cruiser.
“At that time, the female is alleged to have repeatedly spit and kicked through the open portion of the plexiglass divider where an officer then intervened,” police said.
The woman is facing two counts of assaulting police, two counts of mischief under $5,000, two counts of failing to comply with probation, and one count each of causing a disturbance and uttering threats. She is scheduled to appear in court on Monday in Perth.
Black says, since the arrest, her family has had a difficult time getting information from Smiths Falls police about where McNaughton is and whether she has received any medical care.
“We’re just trying to navigate a very difficult system, and we received quite a bit of pushback, some really rude interactions with police, and I think that’s needless,” Black said.
Police say the woman was assessed “as a precautionary measure” by paramedics but refused any treatment.
McNaughton’s family says she has a history of mental health and addiction issues, and they have tried desperately for years to get her help.
“She’s a vulnerable person, and I think the key part here is she’s a person — independently of whether or not she is a sister or a daughter or a friend, of which she is all three — she is a person,” said Black.
The witness who took the video says the officer’s demeanour seemed to change as soon as he realized someone was recording.
“At that moment, I think he kind of realized, like, ‘Oh, crap, someone’s filming me,’ because in the video you do see him kind of look around and fix his hat and be like, ‘Okay,’ and that’s when he happens to look up at me,” McKenzie LeClair said.
No one from the Smiths Falls Police Service was made available for an interview Monday. Empey said she would not be commenting further until the investigation into the incident is complete.
Anyone who witnessed the incident or circumstances prior to it is asked to contact Staff Sgt. Wilson at 613-283-0357.
Empey says anyone who wishes to make a complaint can do so through the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency online.
With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Austin Lee
