A police officer was fired from the Toronto Police Service (TPS) after being found guilty of eight counts of misconduct in connection with several incidents over a four-year period, including the 2017 arrest of a cyclist for which he later He was sentenced. Assault causing bodily harm.
According to police court documents, In sp. Susan Gomes, who presided over the hearing, ruled that Const. Douglas Holmes will be dismissed from TPS within seven days unless he resigns sooner.
Gomes said Holmes “violated the public trust by failing to uphold his oath on multiple occasions as he had sworn to do.”
Holmes faced six counts of discreditable conduct and three counts of insubordination stemming from his interactions with two bicyclists and several TPS agents. Gomes found him not guilty of a charge by mistake.
Holmes pleaded guilty to eight of the nine charges.
Documents posted online Wednesday provided a detailed account of the misconduct and what occurred during the hearing.
The first incident occurred in 2017. Holmes, who worked in Division 52, investigated a cyclist for running a red light along the boardwalk. After the bicyclist refused to provide identification, Holmes arrested him and pushed him to the ground. As a result, the cyclist suffered injuries, including a broken collarbone.
Holmes was charged with assault causing bodily harm and, in 2019, was found guilty. He received a suspended sentence and one year of probation.
The second incident involving a cyclist occurred in 2018 when he was already facing charges for the first incident. While off duty, Holmes became involved in a verbal altercation with a bicyclist. After identifying himself as a police officer, Holmes was “insulting and rude” to the cyclist.
“In both cases, regardless of one being off duty and the other on duty, they take place in a public setting involving additional eyewitnesses who observed, gave statements, or called 911 in response to the escalating altercations. In this matter, damage to internal reputation occurred,” Insp. Gomes said in a written ruling.
The remaining incidents occurred in 2021 and 2022 while Holmes was on sick leave. According to the documents, Holmes sent “disparaging,” “inappropriate,” “insulting” and “rude” text messages and emails to several superior officers on separate occasions.
In one case, Holmes emailed an officer with Professional Standards and called her a “lowlife” and a “c-nt.”
“There is no excuse for Agent Holmes’ misconduct. As a result of PC Holmes’ collective behavior that gave rise to this misconduct, the reputation of the Toronto Police Service has already been damaged. It will only increase if PC Holmes is not held accountable for his actions,” Gomes wrote.
The court also found that at the time of the misconduct, Holmes was suffering from health problems, which he said stemmed from work-related events, including his conviction.
In the end, Gomes concluded that Holmes’ disability was not the cause of his misconduct.
“His actions were a choice. “He made many decisions that have consequences,” he said in his ruling.
Although he claimed that Holmes should never work as a police officer again, his attorney asked the court for a demotion as a sanction.
“The totality of the misconduct in nature, volume and duration does not align with a demotion,” Gomes said.
“This is about upholding the oath, serving the community properly, maintaining public confidence in the police and holding PC Holmes to account for his actions.”