Alberta court upholds decisions to suspend two former Edmonton police officers without pay

An Alberta court has upheld suspensions without pay for two former Edmonton police officers — one with an alleged pattern of workplace sexual harassment and one accused of unlawful force in an off-duty assault of an Indigenous man.

The two men, along with a third former member of the force, applied for a judicial review of their 2022 suspensions. 

The requests were dismissed for Scott Carter, a detective accused of assault, and Mark Coates, a sergeant accused of harassment, according to a Jan. 3 court decision from Court of King's Bench Justice James Neilson.

Neilson allowed the application from Richard Abbott, a former Edmonton Police Service staff sergeant who was taken off duty without pay over issues in complying with COVID-19 disclosure policies and a speech he made at a 2022 Freedom Convoy protest.

All three, none of whom still work for EPS, argued that the Edmonton police commission had failed to properly assess whether EPS Chief Dale McFee had found the "exceptional circumstances" necessary to order the suspensions without pay. The police commission has to review and confirm decisions to remove officers from duty without pay within 30 days.

Neilson's decision includes rarely disclosed details from the police chief's reasons for each suspension as well as the commission's subsequent internal reviews.

The judge said the commission shouldn't have confirmed Abbott's suspension because the oversight board failed to recognize McFee's reasoning was "based on a possible misapprehension of the facts and evidence."

But for Carter and Coates, the judge ruled McFee's reasons for relieving them from duty without pay were "clear, intelligible and justifiable."

Officer accused of assault

Scott Carter was suspended without pay on Feb. 8, 2022. He had 25 years of experience with EPS at the time.

At issue was his alleged conduct on the night of July 6, 2021, while he was off duty having dinner with his wife at a downtown restaurant.

According to McFee's notice removing Carter from duty, the officer's wife said she saw someone tampering with her car across the street.

Carter reportedly went outside and confronted two Indigenous people, a teenage girl and a 34-year-old man, "who were just walking together in the vicinity." The chief's notice says Carter tackled the man, and the girl reported that she pulled out a knife to defend him, but the man held her back while trying to distance himself from the officer.

Two on-duty EPS officers stopped and came over to help end the altercation. According to McFee's notice, when one officer tried to pull Carter away, he turned around and shoved him, then tried to continue the assault. When the other officer tried to get between him and the man, Carter allegedly grabbed and pushed him while saying, "Don't you know who I am?"

Eventually, Carter identified himself as an EPS officer and reportedly told the officers that the two people on the street had interfered with his vehicle and the girl "pulled a knife" on him. More police arrived and arrested the pair.

The girl was charged and held to wait for a bail hearing, but the charges were later withdrawn. The man was held in a cell for more than an hour, then released without any charges.

Carter, according to the chief's notice, returned to his dinner.

According to McFee's notice, CCTV footage and eyewitness accounts contradicted what Carter wrote in his report about the incident, where he reportedly stated the girl started the confrontation with the knife, and he grabbed the man to put him between himself and the weapon.

"I have reasonable grounds to believe that you falsely made a misleading and inaccurate police report in an attempt to conceal your assaultive misconduct," McFee wrote.

"You also assaulted two of your colleagues and members of the EPS, who felt endangered by your actions."

The incident prompted an internal complaint against Carter. On the same day he was suspended without pay, he was also charged with one count of assault and two counts of assaulting a peace officer.

Court records show the assault charge was dismissed in August 2023, and Carter was fined $600 on each of the two counts of assaulting a peace officer.

Accusations of workplace harassment

Mark Coates was initially suspended with pay in late 2021, then put on an unpaid suspension on May 13, 2022. He was a 31-year member of EPS and a supervisor in the emergency communications branch, where 911 dispatchers work. 

According to McFee's notice, a civilian dispatcher initially reported the officer for harassment in the summer of 2021. She detailed several instances of comments she found inappropriate or derogatory, including Coates allegedly describing a sexual encounter at his bachelor party.

About three months later, the dispatcher confirmed the accuracy of the information she gave but said she didn't want to proceed with her complaint. A few weeks later, she died by suicide.

Coates contended it was inappropriate for McFee to include the details about the death in the suspension notice; the police commission said it was important context in a subsequent complaint from another employee.

In his decision, Neilson noted there is no evidence the former officer's conduct played any part in the suicide.

Following the dispatcher's death, EPS followed up with other employees and subsequently hired an external investigator to look into Coates' conduct. 

McFee's notice outlines how two other dispatchers supervised by Coates described multiple incidents of alleged sexual or unprofessional comments. One employee reported being "emotionally distressed" after Coates made a joke about suicide less than two weeks after their colleague's death.

That dispatcher reported Coates told her she'd be "working a stripper pole" in another job. She also alleged that he took "revealing" photos of her chest with a drone while on a squad camping trip, then distributed the pictures to all the EPS employees who attended.

An officer working under Coates said the officer made jokes about sex toys and genitalia. He alleged Coates also told inappropriate stories about his time in the field, including saying he'd "choke out students of Middle Eastern descent while working as a school liaison officer as a way to 'show those Arab kids who is in charge.'"

In confirming McFee's decision to suspend Coates without pay, the police commission expressed concern about the "multiple, ongoing incidents" of harassment that had been alleged.

"These allegations are strongly supported by the record, as Sgt. Coates either candidly admits to most of them or says that he does not recall making certain comments, without denying that he made them," commission members wrote.

"In this case, Sgt. Coates' alleged conduct towards the staff he supervises has been offensive, degrading, ostracizing and emotionally hurtful and has led to a poisoned workplace. This is particularly egregious given Sgt. Coates' seniority and extensive experience as a supervisor."

Suspended after speech

Richard Abbott was suspended without pay on Feb. 22, 2022, with McFee saying he suspected the officer of insubordination, breach of confidence and discreditable conduct.

In this case, Neilson concluded Abbott's unpaid suspension should be referred back to the police commission for reconsideration, saying the board made legal errors in assessing McFee's reasons.

Because Abbott is no longer with EPS, Neilson noted that "there may be an issue as to the jurisdiction of the commission to reconsider its review of the chief's decisions if they are referred back to the commission upon judicial review." 

The chief's notice relieving Abbott from duty says the former officer repeatedly refused to comply with an EPS mandatory COVID-19 disclosure policy after it took effect in August 2021. He eventually filled out the force's COVID vaccination survey after being told he'd face unpaid suspension if he didn't.

McFee raised concerns about a speech Abbott made at a Freedom Convoy protest against COVID restrictions on Feb. 12, 2022, in Milk River, Alta. The speech was recorded and posted online.

At the time, a 17-day protest and intermittent border blockade was ongoing in Coutts, Alta., about 20 kilometres south of Milk River. It ended a few days later in a police raid and numerous arrests.

The chief said the video shows Abbott advising  protesters about their "lawful placement" and notes an RCMP officer who was there believed Abbott was using his position as an officer "to lend support to the Freedom Convoy message."

"Your conduct involves engaging in political activity that undermines the EPS' role of enforcing related health measures, preventing blockades, violence and ensuring the public is safe and secure during these protests," McFee wrote.

"By supporting illegal actions that violate the rule of law, your alleged conduct severely undermines and damages the faith and trust placed in you by the EPS and by the public."

Abbott argued that McFee wrongly accused him of participating in the Coutts border blockade, when he actually spoke at a Milk River rally, and said the chief had failed to balance his Charter right to freedom of expression with his obligations as a sworn police officer.

Neilson agreed in his decision that the commission hadn't adequately scrutinized whether McFee had weighed those interests, making it unreasonable for them to confirm his decision.