Greater Sudbury Police are promising a “thorough investigation” of an incident Tuesday in which a Sudbury.com video appears to show an officer shoving a protester outside a school board meeting downtown.
"We thank you for sharing the footage with us," said Staff Sgt. Marc Brunette on Wednesday. "Obviously, it's something that we have to follow up on."
The video was taken by Sudbury.com reporter Matt Durnan outside the Rainbow District School Board office downtown, where trustees were meeting to decide on school closures.
Outside, members of the Revolutionary Student Movement, denied entry to the meeting, demonstrated. The group has been vocal in protesting the closures. However, the identity of the protester who was shoved is not known, nor is it known if the man is a member of the RSM.
The man was trying to get inside to the meeting, and the officer denied him entry, saying he was trespassing. The protester denied that trespassing existed.
“You're delusional,” the officer told him.
“I'm delusional?” the protester responded. “You're not in charge.”
“Jesse, you're going to be arrested for trespassing,” the officer said, reminding the man he had already been kicked out of the mayor's office earlier in the day.
“There's no such thing as no trespassing,” the protester replied. “That's bullsh—t knowledge.”
“You need mental help,” the officer replied.
“You need mental help!” the protester said. “You have two brain cells!”
The shove comes after that last comment, around the 2:30 mark in the video. Afterward, the officer seems to play down the exchange, twice commenting that, “I went to grab him, and he backed up.”
Brunette said Wednesday he was aware an incident took play Tuesday evening, but not the details shown in the video.
"As far as the details of what happened, this is the first time I was privy to the coverage," he said. "It's something that we do take seriously. I can assure you that we are going to investigate, or have it investigated thoroughly."
In addition to communications, Brunette oversees the force's professional standards section, which is the local version of internal affairs.
"This is definitely something that falls within the realm where we will engage in a thorough investigation," he said. "I'll be sure that it's followed up."
