RCMP ordered to pay egregiously harassed force member $141K
TORONTO — Senior RCMP officers harassed a sergeant mercilessly and damaged his career after deciding he had lied to them about his unsuccessful bid to run for the federal Conservatives in 2005, an Ontario judge has ruled.
In awarding Sgt. Peter Merrifield $141,000 for his mistreatment, Superior Court Justice Mary Vallee denounced the RCMP’s conduct as egregious.
“The defendants had a reckless disregard of causing the plaintiff to suffer emotional distress. His emotional distress was severe,” Vallee wrote in her 174-page decision. “The defendants’ outrageous conduct was the actual and proximate cause of the plaintiff’s emotional distress.”
Merrifield, who joined the RCMP in 1998, said after he took part in a Tory nomination meeting in Barrie, Ont., his superiors began a seven-year campaign to damage his reputation that included punitive transfers and unfounded accusations he had committed criminal offences.