SIOUX LOOKOUT — One of two men from Sioux Lookout who was charged with unlawful confinement and later acquitted after conducting a citizen arrest is seeking $100,000 in damages from the province for what he calls false arrest and false imprisonment.
Wally Woods has filed a civil action against the Ontario Provincial Police, the Ministry of the Attorney General, and the Province of Ontario.
The civil action names six Sioux Lookout OPP officers and five Crown attorneys working out of the Crown Attorney’s Office in Dryden.
The statement of claim was filed in August 2017 and involves an incident dating back to 2016 when Woods was arrested by the OPP in Sioux Lookout.
According to the statement of claim, Woods’ friend, Patrick Clara, who owns a business in Sioux Lookout, contacted the OPP to report an attempted break and enter of the business in August 2015.
An OPP officer attended the business and observed what appeared to be footprints on the door and asked Clara to provide surveillance footage. The video showed someone trying to kick in the door of Clara’s business. After viewing the footage, the OPP officer said he would return at a later date.
The statement of claim alleges that the officer did not document the scene with photographs or take any still images from the surveillance footage, nor did the officer take any notes in relation to the individual seen kicking the door.
The officer did not return and Clara was advised by another senior officer with the OPP not to follow up on the matter.
Woods called another OPP officer and later met to show him a picture of a man in a hoodie that he believed to be the same person responsible for the attempted break and enter.
After meeting Woods and viewing the photograph, the OPP officer did not have any further contact with Woods or Clara.
“The attempted break and enter at Clara’s business was never properly investigated,” the statement of claim reads. “There was an actual lack of interest in the investigation on the part of the Ontario Provincial Police in Sioux Lookout and the OPP Defendants in investigating the attempted break and enter of Clara’s business.”
The statement of claim goes on to say there was an ‘animus’ between Clara and the OPP officers, which extended to Woods.
On August 29, 2016 Woods and Clara went to the home of the man they believed to be responsible for the attempted break and enter. After speaking with him, Woods and Clara asked him to accompany them to the OPP detachment.
According to the statement of claim, the individual was free to remain at home and no physical force or restraints were used by Woods or Clara and the man ‘went willingly.’
At the OPP detachment, Woods and Clara were placed in a separate room from the man they suspected of committing the attempted break and enter. A short time later, an officer returned and placed Woods and Clara under arrest.
The two men were both charged with unlawful confinement and Woods was also charged with assault. Woods was released from custody later that same evening with a trial scheduled for May 2017.
“Between the date of the Plaintiff’s arrest and his trial, the Ontario Provincial Police in Sioux Lookout, Ontario, including the OPP Defendants, subjected the Plaintiff and his family to intimidation and harassment,” the statement of claim reads, adding that Woods and his wife were followed by the OPP, and he was therefore “deprived of his right to life, liberty and security of the person.”
At the trial on May 31, 2017, the Crown withdrew the assault charge against Woods stating there was no evidence to prosecute, and he was found not guilty on the charge of unlawful confinement. Clara was also found not guilty of the charges.
Woods claimed the OPP officers were negligent in the investigation of the charges against him because no proper interviews were conducted prior to his arrest and they did not understand the law as it relates to unlawful confinement or a citizen arrest.
The statement of claim further argues Woods was subject to false arrest, false imprisonment, and malicious prosecution, which was: “motivated by an animus and/or malice on the part of the OPP Defendants or any one or combination of them towards Clara and through Clara, towards him.”
It is also alleged that the Crown attorneys were encouraged or pressured by the OPP officers to continue the prosecution of Woods when: “they knew or ought to have known that such prosecution was unwarranted.”
The Province of Ontario and the Ministry of the Attorney General are vicariously liable in their capacity of overseeing the OPP and the Crown attorneys respectively.
Woods is seeking general and special damages in the amount of $75,000 and an additional $25,000 for exemplary and punitive damages.
No statement of defense has been filed at this time. The matter was heard in court on Thursday for primary motions.
