Windsor police officer who donated to Ottawa convoy will learn his penalty in May
Const. Michael Brisco donated $50 but argued he was a civilian at the time
A Windsor, Ont., police officer who was found guilty of professional misconduct over a donation to Freedom Convoy protests will find out the penalty later this spring.
Const. Michael Brisco donated $50 to convoy protests in Ottawa on Feb. 8 last year.
In a decision released Friday, he was found guilty of a single count of professional misconduct.
A hearing to determine the penalty is scheduled for May 4.
According to the decision, Brisco's lawyer argued Brisco did not believe he was a police officer at the time of the donation because he was on unpaid leave due to non-compliance with the Windsor police COVID-19 vaccination policy.
Ontario Provincial Police adjudicator M.P.B. Elbers concluded, however, that Brisco had not been terminated and was still an officer at the time of the donation.
Brisco's name was contained in a database of Freedom Convoy donors that was made public after the crowdfunding website GiveSendGo was hacked in February.
Brisco testified he sent the money to support truckers in Ottawa. He said he doesn't support criminal activity, and would not have supported the convoy if he believed anything illegal was happening.
"He does not believe that the donation he made reflected badly towards him. He believed the cause to be noble," Elbers wrote in the decision.
Elbers concluded the protest was illegal at the time the donation was made.
"The money directly opposed what the various police services in Ottawa were doing. I understand it was a cause he believed in, but this does not render it OK when you are a member of a police service, and in this case that service is Windsor."