Chaos Erupts in Hearing of Ottawa Detective as Lawyers File Police Report on Head of Professional Standards Unit

Disorder Unleashes in Ottawa Detective’s Hearing as Lawyers Report Police Chief of Professional Standards Unit

January 11, 2024 TruthUSA

OTTAWA—A day after the head of Ottawa Police Service’s (OPS) Professional Standards Unit was accused of sending a “threatening” email to Constable Helen Grus—an OPS detective accused of discreditable conduct after investigating the vaccination status of the mothers of deceased infants—the constable’s lawyers filed a police report in the middle of a hearing.

“If I may stand, I’m a witness to a crime and I’m filing a police report right now. I’m an officer of the court,” lawyer Blair Ector abruptly said during a police disciplinary hearing in Stittsville, Ont., on Jan. 11.

After hearing officer Chris Renwick adjourned the hearing, Mr. Ector, defence lawyer Bath-Sheba van den Berg, and Ms. Grus then walked out of the room and filed a police report for the crime of witness intimidation targeting Const. Grus. On Jan. 10, the lawyers alleged that OPS Inspector Hugh O’Toole sent Const. Grus an “intimidating” email warning her not to use OPS internal documents as part of her defence.

Const. Grus, a detective with the OPS sexual assault and child abuse unit investigating child abuse and neglect, faces a charge of discreditable conduct for allegedly conducting an “unauthorized project” between June 2020 and January 2022. She investigated the sudden deaths of nine Ottawa children, allegedly accessing OPS files and contacting the coroner’s office to learn the COVID-19 vaccination status of the parents to look for an association between the two.

On Jan. 30, 2022, Const. Grus also allegedly contacted the father of a deceased infant to inquire into the COVID-19 vaccination status of his wife, without the knowledge of the lead detective on that case. While Const. Grus was suspended without pay in February 2022, she was ordered to return to work with restrictions at an OPS internal hearing in October 2022.

The defence lawyers have argued that the prosecution has repeatedly failed to prove any of the elements of the three charges on Const. Grus’s accusation sheet—which include having self-initiated an unauthorized project, failing to record her involvement or findings in a file, and interfering in another ongoing investigation. They have also asked for her disciplinary hearing case to be dismissed.