Sex assault allegation against Winnipeg officers was unfounded: police watchdog

Manitoba's police watchdog has determined an accusation of sexual assault against Winnipeg officers was unfounded, after it says independent evidence refuted "virtually all" of the victim's allegations.

The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba says it was notified by Winnipeg police about the allegations on Oct. 9, 2017, a few hours hours after a woman who had been arrested on that morning told Winnipeg fire paramedics she'd been sexually assaulted in the process.

The unit investigates all serious incidents involving police officers in Manitoba.

According to the final report by Zane Tessler, the unit's civilian director, police were called to a restaurant and lounge to deal with an intoxicated woman starting fights and being aggressive shortly after midnight. 

Police suspected the woman had breached a court order by drinking alcohol and then arrested her and brought her to a station on Grant Avenue, where she experienced convulsions consistent with a seizure, Tessler's report says.

While en route to the hospital, the woman told Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service personnel the police officers had driven her two hours outside the city and sexually assaulted her.

Fire paramedic staff then took her to a sexual assault protocol nurse for an examination at the Health Sciences Centre, the report said. 

Victim not sure if assault was committed by police

Once the investigation started, the woman told investigators she had no memory of the incident itself.

"[The victim] was uncertain whether she was assaulted by police or if the assault occurred earlier, or if it occurred at all," Tessler wrote.

GPS and mileage data from the police cruiser used to bring the woman to the station showed the vehicle had travelled six kilometres from the restaurant to the station, and that the journey took under nine minutes -- contrary to the woman's allegation she had been driven outside the city and held there for hours.

Tessler also pointed to other aspects of the woman's allegations that weren't substantiated, including her claim that she hadn't gotten into a fight that night — video evidence from the restaurant showed her in an altercation, Tessler said — and the two badge numbers she provided for the officers she accused.

Both of those badge numbers belonged to police officers who retired more than a decade ago, Tessler wrote.

The medical evidence showed the woman had some bruises on her head, face and leg and abrasion and swelling on her right wrist. The sexual assault protocol nurse's examination was "inconclusive at best," Tessler wrote.

"I am not satisfied that anything criminal occurred between [Winnipeg Police Service] police officers and [the woman] that evening," Tessler wrote.

The investigation has been closed.