Warning: Graphic Content One month after a private prosecution commenced, the Crown has dropped all criminal charges against two former Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officers who were charged with lying about what happened the night a man was assaulted during a July 2022 arrest in MacTier. The Toronto Crown Attorney appeared in a virtual Bracebridge courtroom to announce the prosecution’s withdrawal of all charges against 53-year-old Scott Anthony and 31-year-old Ethan Meyer, the son of Deputy OPP Commissioner Karen Meyer. “Today the Attorney General of Ontario and its Crown law office assistants publicly disgraced themselves when they decided to withdraw all criminal charges brought against two former OPP officers formerly of the Bracebridge detachment,” said complainant Richard Darren Morgan, who laid a private prosecution against Anthony and Meyer alleging they fabricated evidence, obstructed justice and assaulted him the night he was shirtless and dragged on the pavement and into a police cruiser with his hands cuffed behind his back. Both Anthony and Meyer were recorded on surveillance video carrying out a violent arrest at the railyard in MacTier at three in the morning on July 10, 2022. Morgan was seriously injured, suffering trauma to his head, chest, arms, legs, and internal injuries that included broken ribs and a collapsed lung. He described having nightmares and suffering from what was previously described in court as a “dehumanizing” arrest carried out by Anthony, who in February 2025 admitted to repeatedly kicking and punching Morgan on the ground and deploying his taser on him. Anthony pleaded guilty last year to a single count of assault causing bodily harm and was sentenced to 18 months of house arrest and curfew in August 2025. He told the court he was struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and was unfit to serve as a police officer, before abruptly resigning from the OPP prior to sentencing. Meyer arrived on scene five minutes later and was seen on camera dragging Morgan by one of his legs and loading him into the cruiser with Anthony. Anthony and Meyer charged Morgan that night. He had been under investigation following a call to police for trespassing that night. Anthony told the court he mistakenly believed Morgan was someone else, with whom provincial police had previously interacted, resulting in the veteran officer to fear for his safety. Morgan was taken to hospital following the arrest and charges against him were eventually dropped when the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) was provided the surveillance video of the arrest, which Morgan said contradicted what both officers said happened. While withdrawing the charges against Meyer and Anthony, the Crown told the court that though it was clear the obstruction of justice and fabrication of evidence charges against Anthony could proceed, further prosecuting Anthony for a second time was not “in the public interest.” The Crown prosecutor advised that Morgan is able to pursue civil litigation against Anthony should he seek damages. The Crown revealed Ethan Meyer cooperated fully with the SIU investigation as a witness. The Crown said Meyer was “under the mistaken belief he was assisting a seemingly lawful arrest notwithstanding the violence employed and what actually occurred after having arrived on scene minutes later.” Morgan disagreed with the Crown’s suggestions that Meyer did not commit a crime worth prosecuting. “These false police notes and reports were prepared deliberately by Ethan Meyer to prosecute the victim for false criminal accusations, and prior to him learning that there was a clear video recording of what actually happened.” Morgan said the province’s police watchdog mishandled the investigation from the beginning and only acted against Anthony after receiving the surveillance video which told a very different story from what the officers reported in their notes. “The travesty of justice started with the Director of the SIU failing to do his mandated duties, failing to charge the officers appropriately, failing to direct the further investigation of Ethan Meyer by an outside police agency,” Morgan told CTV News. “The travesty has now become legalized condoning of police criminal behaviour when the Attorney General’s officer tells a court that even though there is reasonable prospect of convicting a police officer of fabricating evidence and obstructing justice – it will not be in the public interest to bring that person to justice. The precedent has been set for future travesties.” The prosecution said there was “no reasonable prospect of conviction” against Meyer for assault or the fabrication of evidence and obstruction of justice charges. Meyer, who was in probationary status at the time of the incident, left the OPP in the midst of the SIU’s investigation and joined the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service (NAPS) in Northern Ontario. He was suspended with pay following the private prosecution charges being laid. Following the withdrawal of charges Anthony’s lawyer Peter Ketcheson provided a statement to CTV News, saying his client was “pleased” to hear of the Crown’s decision to withdraw his charges. “We firmly believe that this was the correct decision. The Crown’s decision now closes a very difficult chapter in Mr. Anthony’s life and allows him to focus on the future,” said Ketcheson. Meyer’s lawyer, Sandip Khehra, said his client has maintained his innocence from the outset. “We are pleased that the Crown intervened, thoroughly reviewed the file, and determined that this private information was entirely baseless,” said Khehra. “Mr. Meyer was merely a witness in the initial incident and fully cooperated with the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) during its original investigation. We are relieved that the Crown took prompt, decisive steps to withdraw these groundless charges today, bringing a swift end to this matter.” Morgan vows to continue his pursuit of justice for what happened to him. He said the attack robbed him of his dignity as a man and caused him to “lose everything” as he struggled with the physical and mental trauma he sustained that night. “The OPP is a powerful organization,” he said. “Once you’re an officer, you’re provided with a ‘get out of jail free’ card to be carried in case you need it in the future. Those police officers who have carried out their police duties with integrity in the past and in the present have had their reputation as a police officer totally damage. They don’t deserve that disgrace.” Morgan said, in this case, he was the victim of police brutality, but “tomorrow it may be you or a member of your family,” adding “If the Crown Law Office is accurately starting a truth that clear police criminal misconduct is not in the public interest to prosecute, then no citizen is safe.” Court records show Morgan has filed three-and-a-half-million-dollar civil lawsuit against the officers, the Ontario provincial police and several other parties. The allegations against them have not been tested in court.
