Bridgewater police officer accused of sexually assaulting teen

Nova Scotia's Serious Incident Response Team is investigating a Bridgewater Police Service officer accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl and obstructing justice earlier this year.

SIRT says the obstruction of justice investigation is connected to the alleged sexual assault.

Ron MacDonald, the director of SIRT, said the officer hasn't been charged. He wasn't sure of the officer's current status with the Bridgewater Police Service.

On Aug. 18, Bridgewater Policesaid in a statement that the officer had been placed on administrative leave following a special meeting of the police board.

The alleged offences happened earlier in 2016, but SIRT received a tip about it Aug. 4.

"Initially, we had some investigative avenues to utilize that required us to do so without notifying the public of our investigation," said MacDonald.

"It is our policy to notify the public once we commence investigations where it doesn't compromise investigative integrity and we're at that point now."