Bracebridge OPP officer found guilty of assault causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon

[Michael Jack]

Bracebridge OPP officer charged with assault causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon

Warning: Readers may find details in this article disturbing.

Bracebridge OPP officer headed to trial on assault charges for incident caught on camera

Bracebridge OPP Const. Scott Anthony has hired Toronto defence lawyer Peter Brauti to defend him ahead of his assault case heading to trial.

Anthony faces allegations of violently beating a man in July 2022, an incident that was caught on surveillance camera.

The charges stem from an investigation by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) into the alleged assault on a 43-year-old man from Georgian Bay Township.

The SIU reported that two officers, including Anthony, responded to a break-in and trespass at the Canadian Pacific Railway yard in MacTier. When the officers arrived, they encountered a suspect who was subsequently arrested.

Security camera footage captured the incident, which appeared to show an officer using a stun gun on the man and kicking him in the head while he was on the ground.

The video appears to depict the man being subjected to multiple kicks, followed by the second officer administering another stun gun shock before the suspect is pulled along the ground by his feet with his hands restrained behind his back.

The suspect was hospitalized with serious injuries.

Anthony is charged with one count of assault causing bodily harm and one count of assault with a weapon.

According to the OPP, the other officer involved is no longer employed by the service.

Bracebridge OPP Const. Scott Anthony has hired Toronto defence lawyer Peter Brauti to defend him ahead of his assault case heading to trial.

Anthony faces allegations of violently beating a man in July 2022, an incident that was caught on surveillance camera.

The charges stem from an investigation by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) into the alleged assault on a 43-year-old man from Georgian Bay Township.

The SIU reported that two officers, including Anthony, responded to a break-in and trespass at the Canadian Pacific Railway yard in MacTier. When the officers arrived, they encountered a suspect who was subsequently arrested.

Security camera footage captured the incident, which appeared to show an officer using a stun gun on the man and kicking him in the head while he was on the ground.

The video appears to depict the man being subjected to multiple kicks, followed by the second officer administering another stun gun shock before the suspect is pulled along the ground by his feet with his hands restrained behind his back.

The suspect was hospitalized with serious injuries.

Anthony is charged with one count of assault causing bodily harm and one count of assault with a weapon.

According to the OPP, the other officer involved is no longer employed by the service.

Weeks before this incident, CTV News obtained video surveillance(opens in a new tab) from inside a holding cell at the Bracebridge OPP detachment that appears to show Anthony striking a man in custody repeatedly.

After receiving the video last year, the SIU stated it had reopened that case and the investigation is ongoing.

Trial dates for the alleged assault in MacTier are anticipated to be scheduled next week.

The allegations against the officer have not been tested in court.

An alleged assault was captured on surveillance camera on July 10, 2022, in MacTier, Ont. (Supplied)

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[Michael Jack]

OPP officer Scott Anthony is facing charges of assault causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon following an arrest in MacTier in November 2022

A trial involving a Bracebridge OPP officer facing criminal charges is scheduled to begin next year.

At a trial scheduling hearing May 14 at the Bracebridge courthouse, the assault case against Bracebridge OPP officer Scott Anthony was set for trial in 2025 between Feb. 3 to 14 (all weekdays) in Huntsville.

Anthony, who is on leave from the force, was charged with one count of assault causing bodily harm and one count of assault with a weapon in November 2022. The charges were laid after an SIU investigation into the July 2022 arrest of a man in MacTier.

The trial had originally been set to start February in Collingwood. The reason for the Collingwood scheduling was because there were no dates available in Muskoka at that time.

However, at the court appearance this week, Crown attorney Vlatko Karadzic informed Justice R. Williams the 2024 date had to be rescheduled due to Anthony’s change in legal representation. Peter Brauti is now representing Anthony, the court was told.

“I would like to set a trial confirmation hearing just to confirm that everything’s teed up and ready to go,” Williams said.

“I know last time that we had a confirmation hearing, because this is the second time this matter has been up for trial. The trial co-ordinator gave us a confirmation hearing before that out-of-town judge in that judge’s home jurisdiction. But I don’t know if that’s the plan,” Karadzic added.

The judge said he didn’t think that would be an issue right now.

“If there’s any issue, we can make arrangements then and get it back before the assigned trial judge,” Williams added.

The two sides agreed to Nov. 20 in Bracebridge for the confirmation hearing.

https://www.muskokaregion.com/news/crim ... 462e6.html

[Michael Jack]

Warning: Readers may find details in this article disturbing.

A month before what was supposed to be the start of his trial in Huntsville, Const. Scott Anthony, the suspended Bracebridge OPP officer charged with assaulting a man during an arrest in July 2022 in MacTier, is expected to plead guilty, according to his legal counsel.

During a virtual court appearance Wednesday afternoon, a lawyer representing Anthony told the court a “resolution in principle” had been reached.

The officer was charged following a Special Investigations Unit (SIU) investigation into the alleged assault on a man from Georgian Bay Township during a call for an overnight reported break-and-enter and trespass at the CP Railway Yard in MacTier.

Video footage appears to show the man being struck several times by an officer while on the ground.

The SIU reports two officers, including Anthony, located a suspect who was arrested and taken to hospital with serious injuries.

According to Ontario Provincial Police, the other officer involved in the arrest is no longer employed by the service.

The entire 20-minute interaction between the officer and shirtless suspect was captured on surveillance video.

One officer, believed to be Anthony, appears to kick the man in the head after the man was tasered while on the ground.

The man appeared to then get kicked repeatedly by the officer.

Minutes later, the other officer arrived and appeared to use his taser on the man who is then seen being dragged by his feet with his hands in cuffs behind his back.

Anthony is charged with one count of assault causing bodily harm and one count of assault with a weapon.

Toronto defence lawyer Peter Brauti was hired by Anthony last year.

The Crown said video evidence from the MacTier arrest will be played for the court, along with other exhibits filed during the anticipated plea proceedings.

Sentencing is expected in the spring.

Anthony is scheduled to make his next appearance at the Huntsville courthouse on February 3. The allegations against him have not been tested in court.

An alleged assault was captured on surveillance camera on July 10, 2022, in MacTier, Ont. (Supplied)

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https://www.ctvnews.ca/barrie/article/o ... ad-guilty/

[Michael Jack]

Warning: Readers may find details in this article disturbing.

A longtime Ontario Provincial Police officer who was charged with assaulting a shirtless man nearly three years ago during an arrest for alleged trespassing, has pleaded guilty.

OPP veteran officer Scott Anthony, 27, walked into the Huntsville courthouse Monday morning with his lawyer by his side. Anthony pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm in a violent arrest that was caught on camera July 10, 2022, in MacTier.

The officer is seen repeatedly striking the man with his taser and kicking him before he and another officer are seen dragging the man into a police cruiser several minutes later.

The 30-minute surveillance video was played for the court in its entirely after the Crown read an Agreed Statement of Facts to the court.

Justice John Olver heard the officer was responding to a 3 a.m. trespassing call for a man seen trying to hop on a CP train while it was being inspected in MacTier.

According to a witness, the then 44-year-old MacTier man was seen falling off the moving train. An engineer called police and reported the man seemed “out of it.” He said the shirtless man appeared high on something and sought shelter in a nearby bunkhouse and shed.

It was within minutes, the court heard, Anthony arrived on scene near the rail yard and was captured on camera deploying his stun gun on the man. He is then seen hitting the man in the head while he was on the ground. The officer is then seen pulling and dragging the man by his feet and kicking him in the head and legs.

According to the Agreed Statement of Facts, the bloodied man was taken to hospital with several injuries to his head, torso, arms and legs. Charges against him, after he was released from hospital, were later dropped by the Crown.

Anthony was charged with assault causing bodily harm and one count of assault with a weapon following an investigation by the Special Investigations Unit.

Crown Attorney Vlatko Karadzic said Monday it could not proven beyond a reasonable doubt broken ribs and a punctured lung suffered by the man were a result of Anthony’s strikes or from the man falling off the train at 16km/hr.

Anthony, as part of the Agreed Statement of Facts read in court, acknowledged he caused injuries to the face of the MacTier man and admitted that the use of his stun gun, along with dragging the man to the police cruiser went against his training.

The court heard Anthony, at one point, had been an instructor for use of force with stun guns.

CTV News also obtained video of an incident weeks prior to the rail yard arrest, on June 20, 2022. The surveillance video from inside a holding cell at the Bracebridge OPP detachment appeared to show Anthony striking a man in custody repeatedly.

The man later collapsed to the ground in the cell. The man was also in court Monday in Huntsville to observe the proceedings with a loved one. He said he is Métis and struggles with developmental disabilities. He told CTV News he was pleased to see Anthony plead guilty to the assault of the MacTier man.

This summer, the SIU cleared Anthony of any criminal wrongdoing inside the police detachment in June 2022. The SIU said Anthony used reasonable force and defended himself in the holding cell when the man tried to punch him.

Anthony, according to the OPP, is on an unrelated leave. He left the Huntsville courthouse from a back door. Neither Anthony, nor lawyer Peter Ketcheson, offered comment on the guilty plea.

The matter returns to a virtual courtroom later this month to set a date for a sentencing hearing.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/barrie/article/o ... on-camera/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9LWgBCgZFM

[Michael Jack]

Police Const. Scott Anthony pleads guilty relating to 2022 incident

Man was hit by Taser, kicked and dragged shirtless while handcuffed.

“You shot me dead bro.”

These are the words of a MacTier man, recorded during a 2022 incident which resulted in a Bracebridge OPP officer pleading guilty to assault causing bodily harm last month.

The then 43-year-old man’s words were heard during a Feb. 3 court appearance in Huntsville, where Scott Anthony entered his plea to the assault. Another charge of assault with a weapon remains before the court.

Anthony, a 27-year OPP veteran, is set to be sentenced April 24 at the Bracebridge courthouse.

The charges were laid after a Special Investigations Unit investigation into the July 2022 arrest of a man in MacTier. The arrest was captured on video, including audio, by a camera on a nearby business.

What the prosecution and defence agreed happened that summer night was presented to the court Feb. 3 by the Crown attorney Vlatko Karadzic:

- In the early hours of July 10, 2022, Bracebridge OPP officers were called to the Canadian Pacific Railway yard in MacTier for a reported trespass and breaking-and-entering investigation.

- Witnesses reported a man climbing onto a moving train, jumping off the other side and falling down a small embankment. The train was travelling at an estimated 16 km/h.

- A witness stated the man appeared to be “likely high on something” and was heard saying repeatedly “I’ve got to get home.”

- The man failed to jump on the train a second time again and eventually headed toward the CPR bunk house. He unsuccessfully tried to enter this house and then parked vehicles.

- The witnesses called CP Rail Police, which alerted the Bracebridge OPP to the incident.

- A call from CP Rail Police to the OPP at 3:18 a.m. indicated the man was outside a local grocery store and was seen checking car door handles.

- Anthony arrived at 3:22 a.m. and stopped his cruiser on Front Street, approximately six metres to the left of the man. Anthony exited his cruiser within 15 seconds of arrival and walked in the direction of the man, getting to within three metres of him. Within 15 seconds of Anthony exiting the cruiser, he pointed his stun gun and flashlight at the man, who now turned in the officer’s direction.

- The man appeared to ignore the officer’s commands. He crouched down with his hands up, paced away from Anthony and put his hands on top of his head. Anthony remained approximately three to four metres away from the man.

- The man appeared to put his hands out in front of himself, and then to his face, where they remained for approximately 15 seconds when Anthony deployed his Taser, according to the agreed statement of facts. The prongs appeared to connect with his back and he immediately went down on his back and began convulsing.

- Anthony immediately approached the man and kicked him in the face with his right boot. The man continued convulsing on the ground. Shortly after, the officer attempted to kick the man’s legs, missing on the first attempt but connecting on the second, the court heard.

- The man then removed the Taser prongs from his body and started running away from Anthony toward the stairs leading to the entrance of the nearby hardware store, the court heard.

- “PC Anthony appears to have deployed his Taser again, which connected and knocked (the man) to the ground on the stairs flat on his back. When PC Anthony used his Taser to strike (the man) in the head and face several times as (he) slid down the stairs and was on his hands and knees, PC Anthony appeared to try to use the taser and stun mode by pressing it up to (his) legs and back. It’s unclear whether that had any effect, but when (he) rolled over on his back, PC Anthony struck (him) two more times with the Taser,” said Karadzic.

- A second OPP officer arrived, the Crown stated, and Anthony and the second officer attempted to handcuff the man. The second officer used his stun gun on the man, but “it did not make a good connection.”

- The officer told SIU investigators he had used his stun gun at Anthony’s direction as he was the senior officer, the court was told.

- The man then told the officers “stop shooting me with lightning,” the court was told.

- Anthony then grabbed one of the man’s arms and rolled him over to his back, at which point Anthony began kicking him. Anthony got on top of the man and delivered several strikes with his forearm and elbow to the head, which the other officer indicated knocked the man out and they were able to handcuff him.

- When a female was then spotted walking toward the two cruisers, the two officers grabbed the shirtless man’s legs and dragged him to the cruisers.

- An ambulance was called to attend to the man’s injuries, but was called off and the man was taken to the OPP detachment. From there, the man was taken to hospital where he received stitches for a head laceration and was diagnosed with fractured ribs, along with seven separate wounds to his body.

After the Crown presented the statement of facts to the court, two videos were played for the court. In one clip, the man could be heard saying … “you literally shot me man … you shot me dead bro … what the f**k are you doing to me?”

Karadzic told the court at the Feb. 3 appearance the Crown was “not in position to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that (his) ribs and punctured lung is attributable to the assault by PC Anthony,” as the injuries could be the result of the man falling off the train.

“However, PC Anthony acknowledges that the remaining injuries to (the man’s) face meet the definition of bodily harm and were caused by his assault … he also acknowledges that his use of the Taser that evening on the man was contrary to his training, as was the manner in which (he) was dragged to the cruiser by his feet,” he added.

The man arrested that night was initially charged with assault/resist arrest, trespassing and mischief over $5,000. The charges were withdrawn by the Crown in December 2022.

https://www.muskokaregion.com/news/you- ... 92a93.html

[Michael Jack]

OPP Constable Scott Anthony submitted his resignation as a police officer Thursday morning ahead of his sentencing hearing in a Bracebridge, Ont. courtroom.

The 27-year veteran officer pleaded guilty in February 2025 to assault causing bodily harm in the attack on a man who was under investigation for trespassing at a rail yard in MacTier.

Anthony, 52, apologized to the man he brutally assaulted during a violent arrest that was caught on camera just after 3 a.m. on July 10, 2022.

Anthony is represented by Toronto defence lawyers Peter Brauti and Peter Ketcheson. Brauti, read the apology letter to the court on behalf of his client.

“I have come to terms I am no longer mentally fit to serve,” the letter said. Anthony expressed remorse for his actions.

“I made a mistake, a serious mistake,” he said. “I was experiencing traumatic stress.”

The defence explained to the court Anthony feared for his safety on his way to the call, saying he was mistakenly under the impression he faced a serious threat that night from an individual who was hostile and violent toward police.

“My mind told me my life was in danger and to panic.” Still Anthony called his actions ‘inexcusable’ and ‘deserving of punishment’ for using fists, kicks, knees and weapons.

The Crown Vlatko Karadzic called it a ‘prolonged brutal assault on a defenceless victim’ who was in a state of mental health crisis, vulnerable and posed no threat to police that night.

The Crown called Anthony’s actions a gross breach of the public’s trust when he beat the man unconscious, then dragged his shirtless handcuffed body on the ground by his feet, before loading him into a police cruiser. The bloodied man was taken to hospital with several injuries to his head, torso, arms, and legs. He was initially charged by police with assault with intent to resist arrest.

However, when security video from the area was brought to the attention of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Anthony was subsequently charged with assault causing bodily harm and one count of assault with a weapon following an SIU investigation. He pleaded guilty earlier this year to assault causing bodily harm. Charges against the victim were dropped.

Anthony acknowledged his excessive use of force went against his training. Anthony, the court heard has sought to better himself through intensive therapy by participating in at least 108 weekly sessions. The defence said Anthony is committed to bettering his mental health and was struggling at the time of the assault with personal and professional struggles that included traumatic stress from attended “horrific” crime scenes involving violence.

His victim, who is now 45, described crippling physical and psychological suffering in the three years since the attack. He called his life hell, telling the court he has nightmares and is consumed with paranoia and fear, and consumed by fear, anxiety and depression triggered by what happened to him that night at the hands of a police officer.

The Crown calling the man’s brutal beating and arrest ‘dehumanizing,’ and asked the court to sentence Anthony to actual jail time for a year to 15 months.

The court also heard from the victim’s mother, who described becoming sick when she first watched the video of the beating.

“My son was not an angel,” the victim’s mother conceded. She described seeing her son slipping away from her due to self-harm and abuse of alcohol to mask the pain of the beating.

She said, Anthony’s assault of her son violated the oath he took, swearing to serve and protect the public and told the court of the psychological and emotional damage the assault had on her son and family. She explained her son struggles with paranoia and fears police. She described her son becoming triggered whenever he sees a police vehicle or passes by the scene of the attack.

The woman called Anthony a ‘total disgrace to the uniform’ he wore.

The defence told the court of the pain Anthony continues to endure after having been shamed and embarrassed in the public by the media attention on his case. Brauti asked the court to consider a conditional sentence of house arrest, saying Anthony should not be in to jail with criminals who contributed to the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that culminated with the assault and arrest in MacTier.

Justice John Olver will sentence Anthony in late August.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG5cX0JUnpc

https://www.ctvnews.ca/barrie/article/f ... on-camera/

[Michael Jack]

A now former provincial police officer who pleaded guilty to assaulting a man during an arrest caught on camera in MacTier, Ont. three years ago will not be spending time behind bars.

Scott Anthony, 52, who resigned from the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) last month ahead of his sentencing hearing, was granted a conditional sentence of 18 months, to be served in the community and split evenly between house arrest and curfew.

Anthony’s conditional sentence comes three years after the officer was captured on camera brutally beating a defenceless, shirtless man using boots, fists and his taser. The video then showed him striking the man repeatedly during a trespassing call at 3 a.m. at the rail yard in MacTier.

The defence presented medical records, along with letters of support for Anthony, who expressed remorse and apologized to the man he sent to hospital. The man told the court as part of his victim impact statement that he suffered what he believes will be lifelong physical and psychological damage at the hands of the former police officer.

Anthony, who was previously scheduled for trial by judge and jury, pleaded guilty in February. He was supported at each of his three in-person court appearances in Muskoka by colleagues, friends, and family members.

“He’s very relieved with the result,” said defence lawyer Peter Brauti. “Some people might view this as a light sentence, in some ways, because it was a serious offence, but if you know all the facts about the case, all of his background, the fact that he was dealing with his significant PTSD issue at the time, this sentence makes sense.”

Anthony, the court heard, was diagnosed with PTSD caused by traumatic incidents while on the job, according to the defence. He was also dealing with the end of a long-term relationship and the illness of his father. Anthony, the court heard, accidentally fired a weapon at the police detachment, and was placed on stress-related leave.

He was not charged with assault until the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) was provided surveillance video of the assault in MacTier weeks later for what the Crown described as a “dehumanizing” arrest.

The man suffered serious injuries in the attack and was later charged. His charges were later dropped. The man, whom CTV News will not be identifying, told the court he suffers from lingering concussion symptoms, including light sensitivity and vomiting and battles depression and frequent nightmares.

Anthony and former colleague Ethan Meyer, whom the OPP said is no longer employed by provincial police, were then seen dragging the man by his legs toward the police cruiser while he was handcuffed.

“I don’t know whether the Crown will appeal or not,” said Kerry Evans, the man’s lawyer, outside the courthouse. “I hope they will because if they don’t, there is no police officer that is ever going to go to jail because this is probably the worst scenario that you could possibly have, except for death.”

Justice Olver also sentenced Anthony to community service hours and ordered a weapons bans for 10 years. Olver outlined several aggravating and mitigating factors in the case. The judge called Anthony’s actions a violent breach of the public’s trust. He characterized the beating carried out by a police officer with 27 years of experience as “excessive, gratuitous, and repeated.” He also highlighted the inappropriate use of a taser by Anthony, who trained other OPP officers on how to use the weapon, when he smashed the vulnerable man over the head several times with the conductive energy device. The judge noted the man had drugs and alcohol in his system and had fallen from the train that night.

During his sentencing hearing in July, the defence told the court Anthony should not have to spend time behind bars with the very criminals he sent to jail, saying Anthony was struggling with his mental health and feared for his safety at the time of the call. The defence argued his moral culpability was therefore reduced.

“PTSD is not a defence or an excuse, but perhaps an explanation,” said the judge in reply during Friday’s sentencing decision.

After providing a court-ordered DNA sample to police inside the courthouse for well over an hour, Anthony rushed out of the courthouse to a waiting pick up truck before driving off. He did not provide comment on the sentence.

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