An Ontario Provincial Police officer accused of breaking into her ex-boyfriend’s home while on duty three years ago has made a deal to have her criminal charges withdrawn.
Amanda Farrell, who turns 41 next week, was accused of assault, forcible confinement, criminal harassment, mischief to property, and breaking into the home uninvited, has entered into a peace bond to resolve her criminal charges in a virtual courtroom.
The matter had been before the courts for two-and-a-half years after it is alleged Farrell broke into her former boyfriend’s home and confronted the man and his partner, who told CTV News she feared for her safety.
“It was 15 minutes of terror,” said Chantelle Stamcos. “It was very scary. She was in full uniform, hand on her weapon most of the time, chasing us around, trying to speak with him, yelling at me.”
Stamcos said the provincial police constable, while in on duty in uniform with her hand on her weapon, came into Stamcos’ home upset that her former boyfriend had moved on.
“We at one point had said, ‘If you don’t leave, we’re going to have to call the police,’ and she said, ‘I am the police.’ ”
According to court documents obtained by CTV News, the allegations involved incidents that spanned several months starting in July 2021, and September and December of that year followed by an alleged assault captured on camera by the complainant July 8, 2022.
In the video, the man can be heard repeatedly telling Farrell to leave. Farrell can be seen grabbing the man’s shirt telling him, “We are not leaving on these terms.”
Her lawyer, Naomi Lutes, told the court Farrell does not admit to any facts or allegations but agrees they provided the judge with a sufficient basis to have jurisdiction to impose the bond.
Farrell’s lawyer said her client “continues to deny any wrongdoing but is relieved that this lengthy criminal process has finally come to an end.”
Lutes, in a response to CTV News said the peace bond “was an appropriate way to resolve charges that, in my view, should have never been laid in the first place.”
The resolution to the case means Farrell will not have a criminal record and admits no criminal or civil liability by entering into the peace bond, promising to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for the next year while not communicating with the complainants.
Weeks after the alleged incident at the home, the officer claimed her former boyfriend had assaulted her months earlier while they dated. Charges were filed and later dropped.
Following a police investigation months later, Farrell was charged. The OPP confirmed that Farrell was not suspended but off work on an unrelated leave.
In a statement to CTV News, Ontario Provincial Police said its Professional Standard Unit (PSU) is conducting its own non-criminal investigation into the matter, under the Police Services Act, “which sets out the standards and expected conduct for police officers at the time of alleged misconduct.”
Provincial police confirmed Farrell remains “off on an unrelated leave of absence” and the PSU has opened and is “conducting a parallel, non-criminal investigation” into the matter.
