Two charges against a Toronto police officer have now been withdrawn in relation to a teen's suicide in High Park.
Const. Kyle Upjohn still faces a charge of breach of trust, but the Crown has decided to throw away the more serious charges of criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessaries of life.
The province's special investigations unit charged the officer after a 19-year-old man was found dead in the park in February. An hour and a half before the teen was pronounced dead, the SIU says a Toronto police officer was informed of a suicide attempt.
Upjohn's defence lawyer Gary Clewley told NEWSTALK 1010 on his way out of the courthouse that the two charges now dropped should not have been laid in the first place.
Upjohn's lawyer Gary Clewley says he will argue his client was doing his job pic.twitter.com/GEqGh6rmsc
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"There was no evidence that the conduct alleged against the officer actually had anything to do with the death," he says. "What's left now is an allegation that the officer didn't perform his duties properly and we're going to bring a motion to deal with that charge in January."
He says he will argue his client did not do anything wrong.
Clewley adds that it has been hard for his client to face the charges with so much media attention.
"It's hard to live under a cloud like that," he says. "But this thing is going to be dealt with in the next six months and hopefully he'll be exonerated and get back to his life."
The case will be back in court on January 20. A two-day trial has been set for mid-April, but Clewley says he hopes it doesn't get that far.