Mischief charge dropped against accused co-organizer of 2022 Ambassador Bridge blockade in Windsor
Case of the other accused is set to go to trial, court records show
A mischief case against one of the accused co-organizers of the Ambassador Bridge blockade in 2022 that halted traffic between Windsor, Ont., and Detroit has been withdrawn by the Crown.
Windsor police had charged Nycole Dicredico and William Laframboise with mischief, alleging they were leaders and organizers of the protests against pandemic mandates.
On Tuesday, the Ontario Court of Justice confirmed the charge against Dicredico was withdrawn, which was first reported by the Windsor Star.
Court records show Laframboise's case is expected to go to trial, with his next appearance scheduled for February.
For a week beginning on Feb. 7, 2022, the protests prevented vehicles from crossing the bridge, which is known as the busiest international crossing in North America, carrying $323 million worth of goods across the Windsor-Detroit border daily, according to its website.
Hundreds of RCMP, provincial and Windsor police and surrounding authorities cleared the blockade following a court injunction ahead of the federal government invoking the Emergencies Act.
Multiple charges withdrawn
Laframboise, who is representing himself in court, has said he wants a trial as soon as possible to prove his innocence. The 41-year-old maintains he wasn't a leader.
"They have nothing on us," he told CBC News in a previous interview.
"All they're doing is ruining people's lives."
Dicredico has been represented by Windsor lawyer Dan Scott.
"My position has always been that she was out of there even before the [court] order was issued," Scott said in an interview with CBC News in August.
CBC Windsor is seeking comment from Scott, the Crown attorney's office and the Windsor Police Service.
Police said after the protest that they had charged at least 46 people for blocking the Ambassador Bridge.
The Democracy Fund is a charity that defends constitutional rights and has represented people charged by police for their alleged roles in the blockade. Its litigation director, Alan Honner, told CBC News in August that charges have been withdrawn against two of 13 people.
Court records show at least two people have been found guilty or have pleaded guilty to charges related to their roles in the protests at bridge. Both received probation for 12 months.
Investigation a 'significant task'
Shortly after Dicredico was charged, Windsor police's then acting superintendent of investigations, Karel DeGraaf, told CBC News that it was the result of five months of case work and "a tremendous amount of effort."
He said the protest movement's leadership was "very much fragmented and fractured," but Dicredico and Laframboise were allegedly involved in co-ordinating movement and "establishing rallying at specific points in an effort to block the bridge."
