Const. Karl Ranta and Const. Alexander McEachern are suspended with pay pending the outcome of the court proceedings, Ontario Provincial Police said Wednesday. (CBC)Two Ontario Provincial Police officers from the Kenora detachment have been charged with assault stemming from an arrest that took place on Boxing Day last year.
Const. Karl Ranta, who has been an officer with the provincial police force for nearly four years, and Const. Alexander McEachern, a member for nearly two years, were charged on Wednesday, according to an OPP news release.
The provincial police service's professional standards unit started an investigation earlier this year into the Dec. 26 arrest, the news release said.
The two officers responded that day to a report a paramedic had been assaulted in an incident on Matheson Street in the northwestern Ontario city.
The assault on the paramedic, who was responding to a call, had ended by the time officers arrived, but a struggle ensued as Ranta and McEachern approached the alleged assailant to arrest them, the police service said.
The accused was taken into custody and charged with assault and resisting arrest, but the latter charge has since been dropped, according to the release.
The news release did not provide any further details on the assault allegations against Ranta and McEachern.
When an investigation into the arrest was started in January, one constable involved was suspended with pay, while the other was placed on modified duties.
Ranta and McEachern have now both suspended with pay, pending the outcome of the court process, the police service's news release said.
Both officers are scheduled to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice in Kenora on May 4.
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