‘The abuse of power… was terrifying’: Crown seeking up to 15-month conditional sentence for Orillia OPP officer convicted of assaultConst. Bailey Nicholls’ lawyer is arguing for discharge with probationary conditions or suspended sentenceConst. Bailey Nicholls was convicted in October of assault causing bodily harm for grabbing Shannon Hoffman by the throat and pushing her into cell bars.A woman assaulted by an Orillia OPP officer while in custody said the incident has left her and her family with a deep distrust of the police.
A Crown attorney read out a victim impact statement from Shannon Hoffman in an Orillia courtroom on Feb. 29, in which she thanked the court for “bringing me some peace after four years.”
Hoffman was arrested in September 2019 for public intoxication.
While in custody at the detachment, she was assaulted by Const. Bailey Nicholls, after the officer became impatient while Hoffman was trying to remove her jewelry prior to going into a holding cell.
Nicholls forcibly tore off Hoffman’s necklace after Hoffman made two unsuccessful attempts to unclasp it.
While trying to take off her rings, the situation escalated to the point where Nicholls grabbed Hoffman by the throat and pushed her into the cell bars. Hoffman later required stitches to close a head wound.
Nicholls was charged by the province’s Special Investigations Unit in January 2021 and was found guilty in October of assault causing bodily harm.
In her statement, read out during the Feb. 29 sentencing hearing, Hoffman said she now felt anxiety while interacting with the police, and that while she acknowledged responsibility for the circumstances of why she was arrested, there was nothing that justified Nicholls’ actions.
Not only did she suffer the assault, Hoffman wrote in her statement, “but there were many lies told about me … everyone I encountered thought I was just a drunk woman who tried to assault an officer.”
Hoffman said she's tried to tell her daughter that not all officers act in the same manner, “but she has drawn her own conclusions” about the police.
“I hope (Nicholls) never has to fear another human being as much as I did that night,” Hoffman wrote, adding that she's still trying to heal. “The abuse of power displayed that night was terrifying.”
Crown attorney Catherine Weiler asked for a conditional sentence of 12 to 15 months, noting that Nicholls’ actions represented a “breach of trust” and saying it would send a message to other officers that an assault on an individual in their custody “deserves denunciation.”
Normally, she told Justice John Olver, a “short, sharp” in-jail sentence of 60 to 90 days would be appropriate, but Nicholls’ personal circumstances (she is on an 18-month maternity leave), combined with the gravity of the offence, warranted a conditional sentence of a longer period.
“A discharge would send a message that (an assault of a prisoner in police custody) … is not worthy of denunciation and it would be out of step (with previous court decisions),” Weiler told the court.
Nicholls’ lawyer, Mike Miller, proposed either a discharge with probationary conditions or a suspended sentence, arguing that the officer made a split-second decision in stressful circumstances, including that the detachment was understaffed the night of the incident.
He argued that the incident bore no semblance to other cases of officers charged with assaulting individuals in custody, in that it was not premeditated and it only happened in a matter of seconds.
“This was a matter of impulse; her judgment failed,” Miller said.
The lawyer also told the court Nicholls was born and raised in Orillia, and graduated from her policing and criminology studies at post-secondary institutions with honours before becoming a police officer in 2016.
“There’s a lot the public has not heard about Const. Nicholls,” Miller said, as he read from a number of character letters that spoke to the officer’s work ethic, compassion and kindness.
Miller said Nicholls, who is now 31, has suffered from anxiety and depression since charges were laid, and felt “shame, sadness, and frustration in dealing with life, even in the happiest moments.”
That included, Miller told the court, the birth of Nicholls’ son in April 2023.
He said Nicholls, who had no disciplinary issues prior to the incident, didn't intend to hurt Hoffman, and highlighted Nicholls’ work in investigations related to domestic violence and child abuse.
“Her work in that type of policing has allowed her to make a difference in the lives of people who are in crisis and are vulnerable,” Miller told the court. “(Nicholls) is a very good person, a thoughtful, giving, selfless, empathetic, and loyal person.”
“For a lifetime of serving the community, it would be wrong to define her life and career in policing through a window of an incident that lasted only a few seconds.”
Weiler called the assault more than “a lapse of judgment” and said Nicholls’ actions were a “breach of trust … (and) she has brought onto herself the potential for dismissal (from the OPP).”
“She acted contrary to her police training … and ignored her training in particular by getting impatient and hands-on in removing (Hoffman’s) jewelry,” Weiler said. “(Hoffman) did not pose a threat to the officer, and she did not provoke the assault.”
Nicholls is scheduled to return to court for sentencing on April 4.
The OPP’s Professional Standards Branch is also reviewing the complaint against Nicholls, and is waiting for the outcome of the criminal proceedings.
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