Officers cleared of assault will be back in old jobs

Two Ottawa police officers accused of assault in 2011 have been cleared of their final charges.

Const. Colin Bowie and Const. Thanh Tran were acquitted of assault charges in October. The two were charged after claims they pushed and tripped Hugh Styres, who had been sleeping on a downtown Ottawa sidewalk, in 2011.

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They had been facing discreditable conduct charges under the Police Services Act charges that were put on hold while the trial was happening but those charges have been withdrawn, according to Ottawa Police Association president Matt Skof.

Skof said Monday the pair will soon be back in their old roles in the streets.

They were assigned administrative duties from the point of the criminal charges, so they were still involved in that, he said.

Now that were looking at the (Police Service Act) charges being dropped we can get the guys back on platoon (duty).

Skof said it was expected the internal charges would be dropped after the not guilty verdict, but it wasnt a foregone conclusion.

A $500,000 civil lawsuit from Styres was dropped before the officers were found not guilty.