'I felt helpless,' complainant says in Windsor police officer sexual assault trial

WARNING: This story contains details of sexual assault allegations, and may affect those who have experienced​ ​​​sexual assault or know someone impacted by it. 

The female Windsor police employee who says she was sexually assaulted by a staff sergeant says the incidents started with comments about her body and progressed to her being pinned to a couch.

The woman testified Monday on the first day of Staff Sgt. Ken Price's trial. 

Price faces four counts of sexual assault. His lawyer, Dan Scott, previously told CBC News that his client "absolutely denies any wrongdoing."

The complainant's identity is protected under a publication ban.

She testified that the first incident happened in 2011 when Price allegedly said "you have a nice tight ass" while the two were at work. Others were around there, she testified.

Later that same year, the complainant said, Price asked her a question about Black men and the size of their genitalia.

"I just looked at him and I feel like there's an escalation in things he's saying to me," she testified.

According to the complainant, the situation first got physical between her and Price in 2012 at a work office space.

She said she was standing in a doorway, leaning against the door frame, when Price approached her from behind.

The complainant testified that Price pressed his body up against her back side. This also allegedly happened in the presence of a Windsor police officer.

"His whole front part of his body pressed up against my body, I could feel his crotch area against my butt. I could feel the back of his nose make contact with the back of my neck," she testified.

"'You smell so f--king good,'" she recalled him saying.

"It was so intrusive. It felt very intimate and sexual, like he was violating me. It was really scary because I felt like things were progressing and getting worse for me," said the complainant.

In a separate incident in 2012, that same year, the complainant said Price pushed her onto a couch and pinned her down.

"When he was on top of me, he took his two hands and inserted them in between my thighs and spread my legs a little bit so he could wiggle his way in between my legs," she testified.

The complainant said Price started dry humping her and that she could feel his erect penis. Two other officers witnessed the alleged incident, she said.

One of the witnesses "just made fun of the situation, so I felt helpless."

In addition to the criminal charges being heard in the Ontario Court of Justice, the woman filed an application with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) early last year.

The HRTO documents outline a number of allegations between 2011 and 2021.

None of those claims have been proven in court and the HRTO process is ongoing.

The HRTO documents also call into question when Windsor police first found out about these allegations.

In a news release in January 2024 when Price was charged, Windsor police said it "immediately addressed" the situation when they became aware of the allegations.

However, the complainant said in her HRTO complaint that several employees either witnessed or were told about what she said happened years before the service said it found out.

The Windsor Police Service fought to have the HRTO records kept confidential. But after a four-month process, the tribunal granted CBC News full access to a copy of the allegations, with the names of the complainant and witnesses redacted.

If you're in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911. For support in your area, you can look for crisis lines and local services via the Ending Violence Association of Canada database. ​