An Ottawa police officer who was found guilty of discreditable conduct and neglect of duty after letting a wanted man go has had his convictions overturned on appeal.
The Ontario Civilian Police Commission cleared Ottawa police Const. Mike O’Reilly of wrongdoing for his 2011 decision to let Leigh Todd Graveline go, even though Graveline was wanted in the theft of poppy and hospital donation boxes, an 18-litre bottle of water and gasoline. O’Reilly had stopped Graveline’s car as part of an investigation into an attempted break-and-enter at his ex-girlfriend’s residence, but didn’t detain him.
In a December decision, a two-member panel ruled that the retired deputy police chief who heard O’Reilly’s case made “significant errors” when finding him guilty. The commission ruled that hearing officer Terence Kelly misapprehended or ignored some of the evidence and made improper and negative credibility findings about O’Reilly based solely on his demeanour during the hearing.
According to the commission, the evidence showed O’Reilly misunderstood the information available to him on his in-cruiser computer and believed that Graveline had already been arrested, charged and released in relation to the thefts. The commission also found that O’Reilly lacked reasonable and probable grounds to arrest Graveline for the alleged attempted break-and-enter at the ex-girlfriend’s residence.
O’Reilly was sentenced to a three month demotion as a result of the disciplinary findings, but that penalty was wiped out as a result of the not guilty verdict.
