Windsor Police Service

In 2019, it was reported that a domestic disturbance 911 hang-up call was made from Windsor Police Chief Al Frederick’s Windsor home. It was reported that Frederick and his wife Simone are the only people normally living in the home.

CBC investigators raised questions about transparency and how the police handled the situation. Mayor Drew Dilkens dismissed concerns and claimed the call was “not of a criminal nature”.[10]

In 2012, a video of Windsor Detective David Van Buskirk surfaced, showing the detective severely beating Dr. Tyceer Abouhassan, an endocrinologist, in April 2010. After the video surfaced, Buskirk retracted his earlier police report that the doctor had attacked him, and pleaded guilty to assault.[11] Dr. Abouhassan was left with a concussion, broken nose, bruised ribs, and a detached retina, requiring emergency surgery.

As the case developed, Windsor Star reported several previous cases of police brutality perpetrated by Van Buskirk and other officers named in the case. In two separate cases in 1993 and 1994, Van Buskirk assaulted Windsor residents and then charged them with assaulting a police officer. In both cases Buskirk’s charges were thrown out of court. Both victims filed lawsuits against Van Buskirk and settled out of court.[12]

Shortly after, a Michigan man named Gregory Eugene Jackson also sued Van Buskirk, claiming that he and a group of Windsor police officers including Kent McMillan, also named in the Abouhassan case, had assaulted him when he was in Windsor. He suffered a gash to the forehead which required medical staples. He was charged with obstructing a police officer, but the Crown withdrew the charge. Jackson sued the police and settled out of court.

In 1994, Van Buskirk was accused, along with other officers, of beating three handcuffed men while taunting them with racial slurs. Two victims were charged with obstructing police, but were acquitted. One sued, but dropped his case for unknown reasons.Windsor police said Van Buskirk would be criminally charged with assault for the incident, but the case was never disclosed and the Police subsequently refused to comment when questioned by journalists.[12]

In 1998 Van Buskirk plead guilty to discreditable conduct and neglect of duty, for accompanying two topless Michigan women into a hotel room with a fellow officer, and telling headquarters they were on call for the ensuing five hours. He was docked 60 hours pay.

Abouhassan’s lawyer expressed disbelief that Van Buskirk would not receive a suspension for any of the previous incidents before the beating of Dr. Abouhassan.[12]

Investigators also revealed other officers involved in the Abouhassan case had track records of assault and misconduct. Staff Sgt. Al Pizzicaroli, who worked with the police department’s professional standards branch responsible for investigating the case, had previously in 1991 been witnessed assaulting a man with other officers. When citizens intervened in the assault, they too were assaulted, and the police made charges against them. The Court acquitted the accused and criticized the officers for misconduct. An internal investigation cleared the officers.

Inspector Randy Gould, named as a criminal investigator in the Abouhassan case, was found by an appeal court in 2002 to have beaten a confession out of a man convicted of manslaughter, in the presence of another officer.

Staff Sgt. Paul Bridgemann and Detective Pat Keane were alleged to have approached Dr. Abouhassan’s lawyer about dropping the case, attempting to strike a deal in which charges against Dr. Abouhassan would be dropped if the Dr. dropped his charges.

Bridgemann had also been previously demoted in 1992 for discharging his firearm out a car window on the E.C. Row Expressway after becoming intoxicated in public with other officers.

Sgt. Mike LaPorte, a Police Union executive, also named in the Dr. Abouhassan case, engaged in a hit and run in 1993, hitting two parked cars after leaving a bar run by the Police Union. LaPorte filed charges against Dr. Abouhassan in 2010. At the time he had retired and was not subject to Police Act charges.[12]

In the midst of the lawsuit launched by Dr. Abouhassan against the police, then-chief Gary Smith announced an early retirement, to be replaced by Al Frederick.[13]

Van Buskirk was sentenced to 5 months in jail after pleading guilty to assault causing bodily harm.[14]

In March 2018, two unnamed Windsor Police officers shot and killed 33 year-old Matthew Mahoney, a man experiencing mental health crisis and wielding a knife in a MacDonalds. Mahoney was shot a total of seven times. In 2019 the Special Investigations Unit cleared the officers of any wrongdoing.[15][16]

Mahoney’s brother said he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and other health issues, and often “called the police to ask for help but had trouble expressing himself.” They called for a coroner’s inquest, claiming the SIU report was insufficient.[17][18]

The family of a 27 year-old Windsor man issued a complaint that officers used excessive force when arresting him in May 2019. The man claimed he was assaulted both during his arrest and after being detained in a police vehicle. Footage showed the man in a transport vehicle swallowing blood and in severe pain and discomfort.The SIU cleared officers of any wrongdoing, claiming that while the man was struck to the body and head, that officers used necessary force to detain him. Police claimed they believed the man was armed, although it was later revealed he was not.[19]

In June 2020, former Windsor Police officer Matt Stock was charged with sexual assault for an incident that occurred in 2016, while he was an officer. The former constable had worked with the Windsor Police Service from 1987 to 2017.[20]

In May 2020, Constable Dejan Djurovic was charged with assault and forcible confinement.[21]

In April 2020, Sgt. James Lucier, a sergeant with 32 years experience, was charged with assault causing bodily harm.[22]