The incident happened when the two accused and the victim were on duty, police said in a press release on Monday. The victim reported the incident to the police on September 20. “The offender is charged with hate-motivated assault/strangulation, aggravated assault, forcible restraint, harassment by threatening behavior,” police said. “The second member is charged with criminal negligence.” Police declined to release the ages or genders of the accused, out of concern that doing so would identify the victim. Both defendants are due to appear in court on December 16. Kim Ayotte, the city’s general manager of emergency and protective services, said in a statement that the city is conducting an internal investigation and is cooperating with the police investigation. “We are committed to providing a safe and healthy work environment for all employees and are conducting an internal investigation in accordance with the City’s Disciplinary Policy,” he said. “The City of Ottawa does not tolerate any alleged criminal conduct and takes matters of misconduct by City staff extremely seriously.” Ayotte said the two members of the Fire Department facing charges are on leave. The city is evaluating next steps as part of the discipline policy, he said. The charges were laid by the Ottawa Police Hate Crimes Unit and the Western District Investigations Unit.
