Lead investigator in DeBungee death case in Thunder Bay, Ont., demoted for 18 months

The Thunder Bay, Ont., police officer who led the flawed investigation intoOjibway man Stacey DeBungee'sdeath in 2015 will be demoted one rank for 18 months and must take mandatory Indigenous cultural competency training.

On Friday, Greg Walton, the officer who presided over the misconduct hearing, ruled Staff Sgt. Shawn Harrison of the Thunder Bay Police Service (TBPS) would be demoted from staff sergeantto sergeantfor 18 months,and will have to attend cultural competency training within three months. Ifat the end of that time his disciplinary record remains clear, he wouldbe returned to the rank of staff sergeant.

"Unprofessionalism, negligence and bias failed Stacey DeBungee," Walton read from his decision, which he delivered virtually.

Last summer, Harrison was found guilty of one count of neglect of duty and one count of discreditable conduct under Ontario's Police Services Act relating to the death investigation. A second officer, Sgt. Shawn Whipple, faced the same charges, but was found not guilty.

Harrison wasa detective at the time of the investigation, but hadsince been promoted to staff sergeant. At the start of the hearing, he pleaded guilty to the neglect of duty charge.

DeBungee, 41, fromRainy River First Nation in northwestern Ontario, died in October 2015. His body was found in the McIntyre River in Thunder Bay on Oct. 19.

Within three hours of the discovery of DeBungee's body, police had issued a news release that said the initial investigation did not indicate the case was a suspicious death, even though the body had yet to be positively identified and an autopsy had not yet been conducted.

A second news release was issued the next day, deeming the death to be "non-criminal."

Family wanted officer fired

The family hired a private investigator, who found DeBungee's debit card was used after his death, and interviewed witnesses who were not part of the police investigation. Officers refused to meet with the investigator.

A complaint was filed to the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD), which reviewed the initial Thunder Bay police investigation and released a report in 2018 outlining its deficiencies.

Though the disciplinary charges against Harrison are serious, Walton said, he does not believe that it should cost him his joband he can still be effective as a Thunder Bay police officer.

The prosecution, representing the TBPS,had requested a two-year demotion, from staff sergeantto constable for the first year, and then after that, a promotion to sergeantbefore becoming staff sergeant again.

Lawyers representing DeBungee's family argued Harrison should be fired from the police service.

Harrison's defence lawyersasked for a demotion of one rank for three to six months.

This wraps up a process that has takenmore thanseven years since DeBungee's death.

It involved a multi-year legal dispute, which involved the CBC, over whetherparts of the disciplinary process would be open to the public when an adjudicator with the city's police service boardwas tasked in 2018 with deciding whether or not it was reasonable to hold the disciplinary hearings in the first place.

The adjudicator originally wanted to hold that 2018 hearing behind closed doors, without public access, but after the case made its way before the Ontario Court of Appeal, it was made public. In February 2021, the adjudicator ruled there was public interest in the disciplinary hearings moving forward, paving the way for the discipline to be handed out this month.