OTTAWA - Video of a 2008 strip search of a woman by Ottawa police shakes people's confidence in authorities, Premier Dalton McGuinty said Friday, admitting he was "very, very troubled" by the incident.
The video was released Thursday after Justice Richard Lajoie last month stayed charges of public intoxication and assault against Stacy Bonds and criticized the conduct of police.
Lajoie said he was "appalled" that Bonds was strip searched in the presence of male officers, calling the incident an "indignity."
McGuinty said he hadn't actually seen the video, which shows officers at the Elgin Street detachment struggling with Bonds and kneeing her in the back before she is wrestled to the floor, where her shirt and bra are cut off. But he said he was disturbed by the event.
"I must say what I have heard is very, very troubling," the premier told reporters after an unrelated event at the RA Centre in Ottawa.
"I'm pleased that the SIU is going to conduct an investigation and I'm pleased with the response put forward by the chief of police."
Police Chief Vern White agreed Thursday that residents would be shocked by the video, and appealed for "understanding and patience," noting police can't comment while the Special Investigations Unit is probing the incident.
"(Police) will not be making further comments on this matter nor the release of a video by the court, until such time as the SIU investigation is completed," White said.
The Ottawa force is co-operating with the SIU and reviewing its procedures and its officers' actions, he added.
Most police officers act in a legal way, said McGuinty, but cases like this one undermine their authority.
"From time to time things happen which shake us, and it's very important that we get to the bottom of this and that people know exactly what happened and what we need to do to ensure that it doesn't happen again," he said
"Every time something untoward like this happens, it shakes our confidence."
Officers need to remember this was someone's sister, someone's daughter and --"for all they knew, this might have been somebody's mother," added McGuinty.
"We've got to be very, very careful about how we deal with each other and it's very important that police act in keeping with what is right and appropriate and lawful," he said.
The 27-year-old woman was left topless in a cell at an Ottawa police station for three hours in soiled pants.
The SIU is a civilian law enforcement agency that investigates circumstances involving police and civilians which have resulted in serious injury, including sexual assault or death.
Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin, who used to be head of the SIU, tweeted Thursday night about the "very troubling jailhouse video," but declined further comment Friday.
