THUNDER BAY — A city police officer will keep his job, after the police force pushed to have him fired during disciplinary proceedings.
During a Police Services Act hearing last month, Thunder Bay Police Service Const. Peter Haase pleaded guilty to one count each of discreditable conduct, insubordination, and unlawful or unnecessary exercise of authority for his actions in a January 2022 encounter with an Indigenous man.
The police service had been pushing for Haase to be terminated, while the officer’s lawyer sought a loss of hours and additional training.
Hearing officer Morris Elbers decided that Haase will be subject to temporary demotion, and must attend Indigenous issues training and any other training prescribed by the police service.
Elbers determined that the guilty pleas to the three charges represented Haase taking responsibility for his actions, which demonstrated there is potential for rehabilitation. The hearing officer also noted that Haase apologized during the proceedings.
During the Jan. 2, 2022 interaction, Haase repeatedly used profanity, grabbed the man’s arm, and pushed him up against the wall of a bus shelter.
The incident was caught on video by his partner’s body camera. Haase did not activate his own body camera, which formed the grounds for the insubordination charge.
Dougall Media obtained the video from the partner's body camera that was presented as evidence during the hearing.
Elbers said Haase’s actions can be considered as serious misconduct, and conducted himself in a way not consistent with being a Thunder Bay police officer.
The hearing officer also described Haase’s actions as being “deplorable and unhinged.”
“He was not in control of his actions or his emotions,” Elbers wrote in his decision.
"His behaviour, his language, his flippant remarks were callous and not reflective of a police officer conducting an investigation.”
Elbers also called the language “dehumanizing,” and “an utter failure of the values and dignity” of the police service.
Haase had been disciplined on two previous occasions, once for insubordination for a November 2019 matter and later for discreditable conduct relating to an April 2021 incident. The two penalties resulted in a combined penalty of 96 hours of pay, along with retraining.
He had been hired as a Thunder Bay Police Service constable in April 2019.
During the hearing, police service lawyer Holly Walbourne had argued that having a third disciplinary matter within the first few years of service showed an officer with a track record of not taking the job seriously.
She also said that Haase's conduct set the police service back in its efforts to build trust with the Indigenous community.
David Butt, Haase's lawyer, pointed to the individual involved choosing not to file a complaint and that the person did not express any concerns about the physical contact.
Butt also argued that Haase should not have his employment terminated to be a scapegoat for policing issues in Thunder Bay,
“The suggestion that I’m not sorry about what I did is just not true,” Haase said when given a chance to speak during the February hearing. “I don’t like watching that video. It almost retraumatizes me. I wish I could talk to [the individual] and apologize for it. That is not how I should conduct myself as a human let alone a police officer.”
