Belleville Police Services Logo / Submitted.
The province’s police watchdog has charged three Belleville Police officers.
Joseph Martino, the Director of the SIU, said in a statement today that Constables Kyle Dodds, Paul Fyke and Jeffrey Smith are each facing one count of assault causing bodily harm.
This is in relation to the arrest of a 34-year-old man inside a KFC/Taco Bell restaurant back in November 2019. He was transported to hospital with serious injuries.
Martino said the officers will appear in Belleville court on June 21st.
Belleville Police Chief Mike Callaghan has issued the following statement.
“The Belleville Police Service understands and is very cognizant that any charges against our officers are very challenging as a community and as a policing community. This is a very difficult time for the officers, their families and all of our members at the Belleville Police Service. We would respectfully request that you not prejudge these officers and that you listen closely to the facts of this case and allow the due legal process to take place. As your community police service, we will continue to serve our citizens and visitors with professionalism, pride and respect as we always have since 1836.
It is important to note that in 2020 the Belleville Police Service was involved in approximately 30,000 calls for service. Between the Special Investigations Unit and the Office of the Independent Police Review Directorate we had a total of 7 complaints that were investigated by the two Police oversight bodies. This equates to .02% of the time our interactions resulted in complaints against our officers. This statistic provides a snapshot of the professionalism of the women and men of the Belleville Police.”
Both the SIU and Belleville Police add that they will not be commenting further as the matter is now before the court.
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