ORILLIA

The lawyer representing a woman who a judge found was karate-kicked and beaten by an OPP officer is crying out to the province’s police watchdog to launch a criminal investigation.

“My client has been permanently maimed,” said Barrie lawyer Angela McLeod, who wants the Special Investigations Unit to investigate. “This officer should be charged with aggravated assault.”

Justice George Beatty ruled Tuesday that OPP Sgt. Russell Watson caused “catastrophic” injuries to Maria “Tonie” Farrell, 48, who was an innocent witness trying to help during an incident in Orillia on April 2, 2013.

Farrell, a Tim Hortons cashier, was still in her uniform when she ran to the rescue of a woman who was being attacked. She was attempting to tell Watson which way the attacker went when he told her to “shut the f— up.”

The officer then kicked and beat her, forced her into his cruiser with her broken leg dangling while she screamed in pain, then charged her with assaulting him, the judge said.

Farrell suffered a broken tibia, a crushed knee that required several operations and injuries to her neck, head and back.

Immobile and in pain, the grandmother faced further charges because she couldn’t go to court to answer to her assault charge. She then reached out to McLeod, who went to her home.

McLeod contacted the SIU to obtain the police officer’s notes. She was told Watson had refused to hand them over to investigators and refused to do an interview, so the SIU dropped its investigation because it had “no reasonable grounds” to prosecute.

“It’s ludicrous,” McLeod said Wednesday. “The SIU has failed my client and it has failed the people of Ontario.”

McLeod took the case to trial and won. Now, with the judge’s powerful ruling, McLeod wants to see a new investigation.

“This case cries out for the SIU to reopen the case, and if not, the Ontario ombudsman should step in,” McLeod said.

Spokesman Jasbir Brar said the SIU is looking into the matter.

“We have requested a copy of the judge’s decision,” Brar said. “If there is new information, we can reopen a criminal investigation.”

Brar confirmed police are not required to hand over notes or agree to interviews in SIU investigations.

“It is the legal right of an officer who is being investigated to decline interviews or to provide their notes,” she said. “It is based on their rights to protect themselves from self-incrimination.”

She noted the rule is similar to other civilians who have the right to remain silent if police are investigating them.

The OPP did not respond to calls Tuesday or Wednesday, but in an e-mail referred any questions to the SIU and the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD).