Melisa Rancourt plans to sue the Ontario Provincial Police for their investigation against her
An Espanola, Ont., court found a Sudbury police officer not guilty of threatening a 13-year-old hockey player at the town's arena.
Melisa Rancourt, 51, was acquitted of the charge Tuesday. She also faced two other charges in this case, namely assault and causing a disturbance, but those were dropped before and during the trial, respectively.
The allegations against Rancourt stemmed from an exchange during a hockey game on Feb. 11, 2024, in which the young player accused her of threatening and physically assaulting him.
In her testimony during the trial, Rancourt, who was the head coach of an Espanola hockey team, said she intended to speak with the opposing team's coach that day about some unsportsmanlike conduct, including racial slurs, inappropriate bodychecks and taunting.
"I often have conversations with coaches after games to discuss what has gone on," she told the court.
She said she was unable to find the other team's coach and briefly spoke with one of the young players instead.
She maintained she told that young player: "Tell your teammate that if he's going to blow kisses by the bench he should make sure the referee doesn't see because it's unsportsmanlike conduct."
The player, whose name is protected by a publication ban, told the court that Rancourt told him: "If you guys do another celebration like that I'll make sure you never skate again," and implied she would break his and his teammates' ankles.
The player told police officers Rancourt had assaulted him by touching his upper body, but later testified in court he had "messed some up" with his statement to police.
Security footage at the arena showed there was no physical contact between Rancourt and the player.
Rancourt's lawyer, Len Walker, told CBC news that was the first time in his 40-year career that a witness told him he made it all up.
Walker said Rancourt plans to sue the Ontario Provincial Police for a "negligent investigation and malicious prosecution when everything they said that she did did not actually happen."
Walker added that officers who investigated the allegations against Rancourt failed to speak with certain witnesses, including a retired OPP officer who was at the game, who could have cleared Rancourt of any wrongdoing.
"My client is relieved because she had kind of lost faith in the justice system," Walker said.
He added that Rancourt continues to be banned from any property owned by the town of Espanloa, including the hockey arena where her son plays.
"I'll let them know that these charges were dismissed and there's no basis upon which they could issue a Trespass to Property Act notice unless they just didn't like her," he said.
Police suspension
The Greater Sudbury Police Service, where Rancourt is employed, has suspended her from her job since the allegations first came to light.
"We understand that such cases can have a profound impact on our community, and we remain focused on continuing to build trust and strengthen relationships with the people we serve, " Greater Sudbury Police Service spokesperson Kaitlyn Dunn said in an email to CBC News.
Dunn said a Rancourt's disciplinary hearing is scheduled to resume on May 13 now that the criminal trial has concluded.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/ ... -1.7515486
Sudbury police officer accused of threatening a young player found not guilty
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Sudbury police officer accused of threatening a young player found not guilty
Michael Jack, Administrator
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Michael Jack
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Sudbury police officer found not guilty of threatening young hockey player
A Sudbury police officer accused of assaulting and threatening a young hockey player at the Espanola arena last year was found not guilty Tuesday morning.
The case has been making its way through court since the altercation after a U13 hockey game on Feb. 11, 2024.
Melisa Rancourt, 51, was off-duty and coaching her child’s team when she was accused of assaulting a 12-year-old player from the opposing team.
The assault charge was dropped, but Rancourt was being tried for uttering threats to cause bodily harm and causing a disturbance.
On the last day of the trial, the causing a disturbance charge was also dropped.
She was acquitted of the remaining threat charge by a judge at the Espanola courthouse Tuesday.
Rancourt was defended by Sudbury attorney Len Walker, who has been practising law for 40 years.
“The trial took quite a bit of time because when you’re defending a case where your defence is it didn’t happen, you’ve got to be very careful, because sometimes people think, ‘Well, something must have happened,” Walker said.
The trial heard testimony from the youth, a referee at the game and several hockey parents.
Surveillance video from the arena hallway where the alleged incident occurred was also shown and proved to be key.
“In the beginning, there was a charge of assault that was laid against my client as a result of statements made by a young hockey player and the witness Maverine Bain, both of whom lied to the police about what had happened, and there was, clearly on the video, no evidence of any assault at all,” Walker said.
“Neither witness could explain why that was the case and so the assault (charge) was withdrawn by the Crown long before the trial finished. The Crown agreed with me on the last day of trial that the charge of causing a disturbance should be dismissed.”
It was the inconsistencies in the evidence that couldn’t be ignored, he said.
Legal repercussions
Walker said his client is seeking further legal action as a result of the case.
“This is not the only court case that will come out of this. Clearly, there was failure on the part of the police to properly investigate,” he said.
“There were witnesses not interviewed, there was a young hockey player standing right where all this happened, there was a retired OPP officer standing in the hallway about three feet away. None of these people were identified, located or interviewed.”
Walker said with no video evidence, police relied on the complainant’s statement alone and assumed the assault must have happened somewhere else.
“We live in dangerous times and people think they can say anything they want and there’s no repercussions,” he said.
“‘So what, oh well, we lied,’ and now one person has been put through almost a one-year battle to prove her innocence.”
Neither witnesses who made the accusations knew about the video surveillance, the attorney said.
“That really changed things for them when they were confronted with it,” Walker said.
Disciplinary hearing
Rancourt has been a constable with Greater Sudbury Police Service since 2018.
She was suspended from her job and as a coach for the Espanola Minor Hockey League when the allegations arose.
“The Greater Sudbury Police Service respects the judicial process and remains committed to upholding the highest standards of accountability, transparency and professionalism,” police spokesperson Kaitlyn Dunn told CTVNewsNorthernOntario.ca in an email statement after the verdict.
“We understand that such cases can have a profound impact on our community and we remain focused on continuing to build trust and strengthen relationships with the people we serve.”
Rancourt still faces a police disciplinary hearing as a result of the accusations.
“Now that the criminal matter has concluded, the code of conduct disciplinary hearing pursuant to the Police Services Act is scheduled to resume at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, May 13,” Dunn said.
“The tribunal is a forum where allegations of serious breaches of the code of conduct are adjudicated and are presided by a hearing officer.”
Walker said Rancourt was prohibited from being on public property in Espanola when charges were laid.
“They should not have done that without knowing more, so I’m hoping they rescind that,” the defence lawyer said.
“She wasn’t able to go to any hockey game that she was a coach. She was suspended from coaching as a result of this and even out-of-town games, she’s had to leave if Maverine Bain showed up because there was a condition of (Rancourt’s) release.”
Now that Rancourt has been acquitted, he said that is all over.
With files from CTV News Sudbury reporter Lyndsay Aelick.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/northern-ontario ... ey-player/
The case has been making its way through court since the altercation after a U13 hockey game on Feb. 11, 2024.
Melisa Rancourt, 51, was off-duty and coaching her child’s team when she was accused of assaulting a 12-year-old player from the opposing team.
The assault charge was dropped, but Rancourt was being tried for uttering threats to cause bodily harm and causing a disturbance.
On the last day of the trial, the causing a disturbance charge was also dropped.
She was acquitted of the remaining threat charge by a judge at the Espanola courthouse Tuesday.
Rancourt was defended by Sudbury attorney Len Walker, who has been practising law for 40 years.
“The trial took quite a bit of time because when you’re defending a case where your defence is it didn’t happen, you’ve got to be very careful, because sometimes people think, ‘Well, something must have happened,” Walker said.
The trial heard testimony from the youth, a referee at the game and several hockey parents.
Surveillance video from the arena hallway where the alleged incident occurred was also shown and proved to be key.
“In the beginning, there was a charge of assault that was laid against my client as a result of statements made by a young hockey player and the witness Maverine Bain, both of whom lied to the police about what had happened, and there was, clearly on the video, no evidence of any assault at all,” Walker said.
“Neither witness could explain why that was the case and so the assault (charge) was withdrawn by the Crown long before the trial finished. The Crown agreed with me on the last day of trial that the charge of causing a disturbance should be dismissed.”
It was the inconsistencies in the evidence that couldn’t be ignored, he said.
Legal repercussions
Walker said his client is seeking further legal action as a result of the case.
“This is not the only court case that will come out of this. Clearly, there was failure on the part of the police to properly investigate,” he said.
“There were witnesses not interviewed, there was a young hockey player standing right where all this happened, there was a retired OPP officer standing in the hallway about three feet away. None of these people were identified, located or interviewed.”
Walker said with no video evidence, police relied on the complainant’s statement alone and assumed the assault must have happened somewhere else.
“We live in dangerous times and people think they can say anything they want and there’s no repercussions,” he said.
“‘So what, oh well, we lied,’ and now one person has been put through almost a one-year battle to prove her innocence.”
Neither witnesses who made the accusations knew about the video surveillance, the attorney said.
“That really changed things for them when they were confronted with it,” Walker said.
Disciplinary hearing
Rancourt has been a constable with Greater Sudbury Police Service since 2018.
She was suspended from her job and as a coach for the Espanola Minor Hockey League when the allegations arose.
“The Greater Sudbury Police Service respects the judicial process and remains committed to upholding the highest standards of accountability, transparency and professionalism,” police spokesperson Kaitlyn Dunn told CTVNewsNorthernOntario.ca in an email statement after the verdict.
“We understand that such cases can have a profound impact on our community and we remain focused on continuing to build trust and strengthen relationships with the people we serve.”
Rancourt still faces a police disciplinary hearing as a result of the accusations.
“Now that the criminal matter has concluded, the code of conduct disciplinary hearing pursuant to the Police Services Act is scheduled to resume at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, May 13,” Dunn said.
“The tribunal is a forum where allegations of serious breaches of the code of conduct are adjudicated and are presided by a hearing officer.”
Walker said Rancourt was prohibited from being on public property in Espanola when charges were laid.
“They should not have done that without knowing more, so I’m hoping they rescind that,” the defence lawyer said.
“She wasn’t able to go to any hockey game that she was a coach. She was suspended from coaching as a result of this and even out-of-town games, she’s had to leave if Maverine Bain showed up because there was a condition of (Rancourt’s) release.”
Now that Rancourt has been acquitted, he said that is all over.
With files from CTV News Sudbury reporter Lyndsay Aelick.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/northern-ontario ... ey-player/
Michael Jack, Administrator
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Michael Jack
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Police officer found not guilty of uttering threats against child
While a provincial court judge found that she made “a terrible error in judgment”, Melisa Rancourt was found not guilty of uttering threats in court today, the only charge she faced after three were initially laid.
A Greater Sudbury Police officer and Espanola hockey coach, Rancourt has waited more than a year for an end to the proceedings and wept deeply after the verdict was read.
Initial charges against Rancourt were laid on Feb. 11, 2024.
“It was reported that after an earlier hockey game on that same day, a coach had threatened and assaulted a 12-year-old player from an opposing team,” OPP said as reported by Sudbury.com. “No injuries were reported.”
Rancourt testified on March 27 and denied all the allegations against her: initially, there were three charges against Rancourt: assault, uttering threats (causing death or bodily harm) and causing a disturbance (mischief). The assault charge was dropped in July of 2024, and at trial, the then-12-year-old hockey player she is accused of grabbing by the collar admitted, after seeing video footage, that Rancourt did not physically connect with him. The charge of causing a disturbance was dropped during trial on March 27.
The only charge left was uttering threats, of which she was acquitted.
From the early year charges to trial dates spanning September, October and March, it was April 22 before the decision was read by Justice Dana Peterson. Rancourt was represented by Len Walker, facing off against David Kirk, regional Crown attorney.
The trial came to a close on March 28 after four defence witnesses, including Rancourt, who denied all charges and four Crown witnesses: a referee at the game, an off-duty police officer, Maverine Bain, the parent of the opposing team to Espanola who had an interaction with Rancourt at the game, and the child hockey player.
Though she found the child witness’s testimony contained many inconsistencies, Justice Peterson said she did not believe the child intended to deceive the court.
“I find that he tried to present honest evidence to the best of his memory while testifying,” she said. “The problem I have is not with his credibility, but with the accuracy of his memory, especially as it relates to the words uttered immediately after Ms. Rancourt spoke with the two Walden players.”
A video of the interaction in question was entered into evidence in September, and shows several parents having what appears to be a heated interaction. There is no audio on the tape. Rancourt is not shown, at any point, to place her hands on the child in question.
“When this witness was shown the video, he realized that he made mistakes in his statement to the police,” said the judge.
“This player was simply in the hallway looking for his coach after a heated game when Ms. Rancourt, the (opposing team) Espanola coach, spoke directly to him and another teammate,” she said. “The situation quickly escalated with a crush of parents in the narrow hallway, loud, angry, adult voices and swear words were uttered. It is not surprising that this young witness may have confused who said what.”
She did find that Bain, the Crown witness and parent from the opposing team had “major inconsistencies” in her testimony. “I place no confirmatory weight on Ms. Bain’s evidence.”
In fact, she found that most of the adult witnesses who were present, including Rancourt, “minimized their level of anger or agitation.”
Of Rancourt, she said “it is clear that she was upset when she walked purposely down the hallway” to the other team's change room. “She was determined to speak with the other coaches about the unsportsmanlike celebration, she made a terrible error in judgment in speaking directly to the Walden players.”
But as there was no direct evidence as to what was said between players, coaches and parents in the hallway at the Espanola Recreation Centre, Peterson said she was “not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Rancourt uttered a threat to bodily law and harm to the child.
“So, Ms. Rancourt, I find you not guilty of the charge.”
Rancourt will next face a police disciplinary hearing on May 13. It will not be her first time.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rancourt was charged for causing a disturbance at another hockey game, also at the Espanola Rec Centre.
In September 2021, she was charged with resisting a peace officer and two counts of entering a premises when entry has been prohibited, contrary to the Trespass to Property Act (TPA).
Rancourt and her wife refused to provide proof of vaccination to attend their child’s hockey game at the Espanola Recreation Centre, and witnesses told Sudbury.com Rancourt screamed, called bystanders “nazis,” and kicked a door while arguing with an OPP officer called by rec centre staff.
Those criminal charges were withdrawn after Rancourt completed the John Howard Society’s Direct Accountability program.
In October 2022, Rancourt faced a disciplinary hearing, which determined she should be demoted from first-class constable to third-class constable for a period of one year, followed by one year in the rank of second-class constable, conditional on satisfactory performance of duty by the officer.
She would also be required to perform 40 hours of volunteer work through the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies to better understand her use of the word “nazi.”
Jenny Lamothe covers vulnerable and marginalized populations, as well as housing issues and the justice system for Sudbury.com.
https://www.orilliamatters.com/court/po ... d-10557968
A Greater Sudbury Police officer and Espanola hockey coach, Rancourt has waited more than a year for an end to the proceedings and wept deeply after the verdict was read.
Initial charges against Rancourt were laid on Feb. 11, 2024.
“It was reported that after an earlier hockey game on that same day, a coach had threatened and assaulted a 12-year-old player from an opposing team,” OPP said as reported by Sudbury.com. “No injuries were reported.”
Rancourt testified on March 27 and denied all the allegations against her: initially, there were three charges against Rancourt: assault, uttering threats (causing death or bodily harm) and causing a disturbance (mischief). The assault charge was dropped in July of 2024, and at trial, the then-12-year-old hockey player she is accused of grabbing by the collar admitted, after seeing video footage, that Rancourt did not physically connect with him. The charge of causing a disturbance was dropped during trial on March 27.
The only charge left was uttering threats, of which she was acquitted.
From the early year charges to trial dates spanning September, October and March, it was April 22 before the decision was read by Justice Dana Peterson. Rancourt was represented by Len Walker, facing off against David Kirk, regional Crown attorney.
The trial came to a close on March 28 after four defence witnesses, including Rancourt, who denied all charges and four Crown witnesses: a referee at the game, an off-duty police officer, Maverine Bain, the parent of the opposing team to Espanola who had an interaction with Rancourt at the game, and the child hockey player.
Though she found the child witness’s testimony contained many inconsistencies, Justice Peterson said she did not believe the child intended to deceive the court.
“I find that he tried to present honest evidence to the best of his memory while testifying,” she said. “The problem I have is not with his credibility, but with the accuracy of his memory, especially as it relates to the words uttered immediately after Ms. Rancourt spoke with the two Walden players.”
A video of the interaction in question was entered into evidence in September, and shows several parents having what appears to be a heated interaction. There is no audio on the tape. Rancourt is not shown, at any point, to place her hands on the child in question.
“When this witness was shown the video, he realized that he made mistakes in his statement to the police,” said the judge.
“This player was simply in the hallway looking for his coach after a heated game when Ms. Rancourt, the (opposing team) Espanola coach, spoke directly to him and another teammate,” she said. “The situation quickly escalated with a crush of parents in the narrow hallway, loud, angry, adult voices and swear words were uttered. It is not surprising that this young witness may have confused who said what.”
She did find that Bain, the Crown witness and parent from the opposing team had “major inconsistencies” in her testimony. “I place no confirmatory weight on Ms. Bain’s evidence.”
In fact, she found that most of the adult witnesses who were present, including Rancourt, “minimized their level of anger or agitation.”
Of Rancourt, she said “it is clear that she was upset when she walked purposely down the hallway” to the other team's change room. “She was determined to speak with the other coaches about the unsportsmanlike celebration, she made a terrible error in judgment in speaking directly to the Walden players.”
But as there was no direct evidence as to what was said between players, coaches and parents in the hallway at the Espanola Recreation Centre, Peterson said she was “not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Rancourt uttered a threat to bodily law and harm to the child.
“So, Ms. Rancourt, I find you not guilty of the charge.”
Rancourt will next face a police disciplinary hearing on May 13. It will not be her first time.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rancourt was charged for causing a disturbance at another hockey game, also at the Espanola Rec Centre.
In September 2021, she was charged with resisting a peace officer and two counts of entering a premises when entry has been prohibited, contrary to the Trespass to Property Act (TPA).
Rancourt and her wife refused to provide proof of vaccination to attend their child’s hockey game at the Espanola Recreation Centre, and witnesses told Sudbury.com Rancourt screamed, called bystanders “nazis,” and kicked a door while arguing with an OPP officer called by rec centre staff.
Those criminal charges were withdrawn after Rancourt completed the John Howard Society’s Direct Accountability program.
In October 2022, Rancourt faced a disciplinary hearing, which determined she should be demoted from first-class constable to third-class constable for a period of one year, followed by one year in the rank of second-class constable, conditional on satisfactory performance of duty by the officer.
She would also be required to perform 40 hours of volunteer work through the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies to better understand her use of the word “nazi.”
Jenny Lamothe covers vulnerable and marginalized populations, as well as housing issues and the justice system for Sudbury.com.
https://www.orilliamatters.com/court/po ... d-10557968
Michael Jack, Administrator