Toronto-based lawyer says in his submissions that any punishment related to racial discrimination in the investigation into the death of Stacy DeBungee should fall on the shoulders of police leadership
The Thunder Bay police officer found guilty of discreditable conduct and neglect of duty in the investigation into the death of a First Nations man doesn’t deserve to be demoted and made a scapegoat for the service’s tarnished reputation as being systemically racist, argued the defence lawyer for Staff Sergeant Shawn Harrison on the first day of his sentencing hearing.
Mr. DeBungee’s body was found in a city river on Oct. 15, 2015. Staff Sgt. Harrison’s disciplinary hearing revealed that he quickly theorized with little investigation that Mr. DeBungee was likely intoxicated, had passed out, and rolled into the water and drowned. Local leadership has called for the dismantling of the service for failing to make any meaningful change, after more turmoil within the service and board in the past year, with a number of human-rights complaints, the suspensions of both the police chief and deputy chief, and a now defunct board being overseen by an administrator appointed by the province for the second time in four years.
Mr. Butt is seeking a one-level demotion for a period of three to six months for his client, describing him as an exemplary officer with a commendable investigative record serving the Indigenous community, who was never put on administrative duties or removed from the front lines, and was promoted months after the initial DeBungee complaint was filed in 2016.
Jim Leonard, public complainant and former chief of Rainy River First Nation, where the DeBungee family is from, about 380 kilometres west of Thunder Bay, testified how the case has deepened the mistrust in police and that it’s difficult for him and other community members to go to the city.“We’re no further ahead than we were in 2015,” he said about getting answers or closure around Mr. DeBungee’s death, which has since been reinvestigated by other police services.
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