Court upholds unpaid suspension of ex-Edmonton police officers accused of assault and workplace harassment

Warning: this story mentions suicide. If you need help, the AHS Mental Health Help Line can be reached at 1-877-303-2642. The Canada Suicide Prevention Service can be contacted at 1-833-456-4566. The Suicide Crisis Helpline is 988.

A judge has upheld unpaid suspensions against two former Edmonton Police Service officers — one of whom was criminally charged with assaulting an Indigenous man and two colleagues, another who allegedly created a “toxic” work environment, including by joking about suicide after a co-worker killed herself.

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Court of King’s Bench Justice James Neilson issued a decision last week in the case of three former EPS officers all relieved from duty without pay by Chief Dale McFee.

As required by the Police Act, the Edmonton Police Commission reviewed the unpaid suspensions and upheld McFee’s decision in all three cases. The three officers applied for a judicial review, asking the court to determine whether McFee and the commission were correct in finding there were “exceptional circumstances” meriting the unpaid suspensions.

Neilson found that while the commission was right to side with McFee in the cases of Det. Scott Carter and Sgt. Mark Coates, it committed legal errors regarding Staff Sgt. Richard Abbott, who spoke at a trucker convoy rally in early 2022.

All three are “no longer with the Edmonton Police Service,” the judge stated.

Officer accused of assault, falsifying report

Carter was criminally charged with assault in early 2022. Few details about the off-duty incident were provided at the time, but according to Neilson’s decision, the 25-year officer was accused of assaulting a man he mistakenly believed was tampering with his wife’s car, as well as two officers who intervened.

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Carter and his wife were having dinner at Joey Bell Tower on July 6, 2021. He left the restaurant after his wife said she had seen people “messing with” her vehicle in the parking lot across the street.

While CCTV revealed someone was in fact looking at her vehicle, Carter instead approached a 15-year-old girl and a 34-year-old man. Both were Indigenous and were “simply walking together in the vicinity,” Carter’s notice of suspension states.

The girl said Carter approached them, told them not to touch his vehicle, then tackled her companion. The teen pulled a knife, saying she wanted to protect her friend, who held her back, trying to distance himself from Carter. While this was happening, two on-duty officers drove by and saw “a large statured caucasian male assaulting a homeless person.” One of the officers claimed he saw Carter grab the man by the collar and push him backwards against a car in the intersection of 103 Avenue.

When the two on-duty officers tried to break up the fight, Carter allegedly pushed both away. He reportedly shouted, “Don’t you know who I am?” and, “Don’t f—ing tell me to calm down, arrest them!” He eventually told the constables he was a 25-year police officer.

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Both the teen and her friend were arrested. The man spent more than an hour in cells before being released without charges, while the girl was charged with assault and weapons offences and held for a bail hearing. All charges against her were later withdrawn.

A few days later, Carter alleged wrote a report claiming the teen girl instigated the fight by pulling a knife, and that he merely used her friend as a human shield.

McFee said Carter’s story is “inconsistent” with the CCTV footage and eyewitness accounts, accusing him of providing “an inaccurate and misleading account in the police report.” An internal complaint was filed, and Carter was charged with misconduct under the Police Act. He was criminally charged the following year. Neilson’s decision does not say whether those charges have been resolved.

The Edmonton Police Commission, which must review unpaid suspensions within 30 days, agreed with McFee, finding it was reasonable to conclude there were exceptional circumstance justifying Carter’s relief from duty without pay.

Ex-commissioner Aneela Hussainaly was the sole dissenting voice, arguing McFee should not have suspended Carter in part because he was “off duty at the time these offences occurred” and was “threatened with a knife and … acting to protect himself.”

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Neilson found the decision to suspend Carter without pay was reasonable.

An EPS officer named Scott Carter previously faced discipline and apologized for an email that referred to a prisoner transport van as “the mobile Native Friendship Centre” and stated “an ‘Aboriginal’ is actually just an Indian.” An EPS spokesperson was unable to confirm by press time whether that officer is the same person.

Inappropriate comments about sex, suicide

Coates, a 31-year EPS member, was charged under the Police Act after a civilian he supervised in the emergency communications branch raised concerns about him with the service’s workplace harassment unit in 2021.

The alleged comments included a note Coates handed to the civilian that read “‘1-800-EAT-S–T’” and telling her, ‘Here is a quarter, call someone who cares,’” stating that she should switch her personal lash business to waxing because “there is a lot of money in vaginas;” as well as sexual comments about underwear and events that took place at his bachelor party.

Another civilian dispatcher later told workplace harassment investigators about problematic comments made by Coates, claiming he said a person who killed themselves by jumping off a building should have “flapped harder.” The alleged comment came less than two weeks after EPS learned the civilian who filed the initial complaint had died by suicide. Coates also made lewd comments about sex relating to a squad camping trip and distributed revealing photos of the female civilian dispatcher’s chest, she said.

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A constable also came forward, claiming Coates told stories about how he “would choke out students of Middle Eastern descent while working as a school liaison officer as a way to, ‘Show those Arab kids who is in charge,’” Coates’ suspension notice states.

Police commissioners upheld McFee’s decision suspending Coates without pay, saying he “candidly admits” most of the offending comments. The comments “led to a poisoned workplace” and were “particularly egregious” given the seniority of Coates and prior discipline for similar comments.

Neilson found the commission’s decision was legally sound in Coates’ case. However, he faulted McFee for mentioning the initial complainant’s suicide in the notice to Coates, finding “no evidence” his conduct played a part.

Convoy speaker

The court overturned the unpaid suspension decision in just one of the cases — that of former Staff Sgt. Richard Abbott.

Abbott was filmed speaking at a freedom convoy event in Milk River in early 2022, up the highway from the border blockade in Coutts. The video showed Abbott identifying himself as a police officer and providing advice about the protesters’ “lawful placement and the lawful placement of the RCMP officers” at the scene. A Mountie on scene said Abbott handed out business cards and used his position “to lend support to the Freedom Convoy message.”

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Abbott had previously refused an order to disclose his vaccination status.

The police commission upheld McFee’s decision suspending Abbott without pay, which Neilson took issue with. He found there were several factual errors in McFee’s decision, including misstating that Abbott spoke at the illegal blockade in Coutts rather than a legal freedom convoy event.

“The commission ought to have refused to confirm the decision by the chief to relieve Staff Sgt. Abbott from duty without pay and the matter is referred back to the commission for reconsideration,” Neilson wrote. He noted there “may be an issue as to the jurisdiction” given Abbott is no longer a police officer.

Pat Nugent, lawyer for all three officers, declined to comment.

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