Lawsuit settled in cellblock strip-search case

OTTAWA — Ottawa police have settled a lawsuit launched by the woman at the heart of an infamous cellblock strip-search, her lawyer has confirmed to the Citizen.

The lawsuit, which originally asked for $1.2 million and was filed in Toronto, was settled for a fraction of the cost. The details of the settlement are confidential but sources have said it was paid out for less than $100,000.

And, in another move that continues to tie the loose financial threads of the widely scrutinized arrest and strip-search, the Ottawa Police Services Board said Tuesday they will also be issuing a cheque to cover the more than $500,000 in legal fees incurred during Sgt. Steven Desjourdy’s criminal trial.

Desjourdy was charged with sexual assault following the Sept. 6, 2008 incident. He was acquitted at trial in April of last year. Last week, a police disciplinary board found him guilty of discreditable conduct for behaviour relating to the same prisoner and incident.

Desjourdy had cut the shirt and bra off a female prisoner, who cannot be named due to a court-ordered publication ban.

The subsequent police disciplinary hearing was focused on determining whether he discredited the force and its reputation by failing to offer the woman disposable clothing as she remained topless and in urine-soaked pants for more than three hours.

The police disciplinary board had previously refused to acknowledge criminal acquittal as the threshold for indemnification but, backing away from its former position, chair Coun. Eli El-Chantiry said Tuesday that the paperwork would be complete in days to cover Desjourdy’s legal costs.

The police association can submit costs to the police board and the board is obligated to pay “necessary and reasonable costs” of any defence if the officer charged with a criminal offence while performing the job is acquitted, according to the Ottawa police collective agreement.

El-Chantiry said although criminal acquittal is generally when boards must pay legal costs, each case needs to be looked at on its own merits.

“An acquittal on the criminal charges is a prerequisite because the Police Services Act does not allow a police services board to provide indemnification in a case where the officer has been convicted of a criminal offence,” El-Chantiry said. “Based on that, a criminal acquittal is one threshold, but there may be others set out in the collective agreement. Whether any of these apply depends on the facts of the specific case.”

El-Chantiry said that the criminal charge was dismissed once Desjourdy’s actions were found to be justified and since the guilty verdict in the disciplinary hearing is unrelated to the criminal charge, there’s no reason to withhold payment.

The association is still reviewing whether it will appeal Desjourdy’s police hearing decision.

syogaretnam@ottawacitizen.com

twitter.com/shaaminiwhy