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A police officer who’s a Liberal candidate in a Cape Breton byelection is facing professional misconduct accusations in a case that will go before the Nova Scotia Police Review Board.

Paul Ratchford, a constable with the Cape Breton Regional Police, is running for the Northside-Westmount seat that will be decided on Tuesday.

Halifax-based lawyer Laura McCarthy is handling the case where she said Ratchford is facing professional misconduct allegations. On Sept. 10, dates will be set for the police review board public hearing, she said.

Ratchford and three other CBRP officers have been the subject of a nearly year-long Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner’s investigation in their handling of a case involving the death of 17-year-old Joneil Hanna. The boy was struck and killed shortly after leaving a booze-fuelled party in Leitches Creek during the early morning hours of June 12, 2018.

The investigation was triggered last September after Hanna’s father John Parr filed a complaint with the police oversight body. A review of the officers’ conduct by Halifax Regional Police officers was conducted, finding no fault with their actions. Parr appealed the investigation and Police Complaint Commisioner Judith McPhee agreed to put the matter before the police review board.

Ratchford and the three officers are accused of professional misconduct in their handling of the case.

Concerns have been raised over specific elements of the case, including why the driver of the vehicle who was at the party that night was allowed to leave by police monitoring the event. The driver, Hayden Laffin, was not given a breathalyzer test after the crash and was permitted to leave the scene of the incident. Laffin was ultimately charged with obstruction of justice and the case is currently before the courts.

The Chronicle Herald reached Ratchford on Friday but he declined to comment on the case and whether he had sent Laffin home from the scene of the crash.

The Nova Scotia Liberal Party subjects all candidates to background checks before they become official party candidates in an election or byelection. The Nova Scotia Liberal Party Guidelines for Nomination Contestants lists a number of disclosure requirements including “whether the potential candidate is involved in any dispute (or is a dispute likely) with a public body or government, whether or not the dispute has gone to litigation or a hearing.”

According to the guidelines, one of the reasons candidates are required to provide disclosure is to save the party potential embarrassement “or hinder the performance of their public duties as a Member of the Legislative Assembly ...”

It isn’t clear whether Ratchford informed the Liberals of the police review board hearing.

McCarthy shied away from offering political commentary on the case but said in general it’s important for the public “to know and accountability to be had with respect to the case.”

“I think that it’s important in general that any police officer should be relevant to the public because their conduct is put in question especially in a case of large significance like one involving a death,” said McCarthy.

McCarthy said it’s almost a certainty that Ratchford will testify at the hearing. Depending on the findings of the review board Ratchford could face “substantial ramifications.” She said it’s unclear how that might impact him if he’s elected as an MLA.

The police review board hearing is the final step of the Police Complaints Commissioner’s investigation process. So far Ratchford and the other officers have been cleared of any wrongdoing.

In July, Parr hired McCarthy to argue the case in the upcoming hearing.

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