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That was the charge Upjohn had been facing until it was quashed earlier this year by Ontario Superior Court Justice Maureen Forestell.

She found the law on breach of trust required evidence of a corrupt or dishonest ulterior motive for avoiding his duty.

Upjohn may have “put his own comfort or needs before the good of the public,” but this was “not enough” evidence to prove an ulterior motive that is the basis of a breach of trust charge, the judge ruled.

The Crown was at the appeal court Wednesday to urge the panel to overturn her ruling and reinstate Upjohn’s committal to stand trial.

“It was a duty that went to life and death,” insisted Crown attorney Milan Rupic.

“He deliberately avoided doing his duty for a person he understood was about to hang himself.”

On Feb. 2, 2016 at around 1:30 p.m., a woman walking in High Park came upon a young man throwing a rope over the branch of a tree. She ran to get help from a park staff person, but without success.

She then called her husband.

When he arrived at High Park, he spotted Upjohn in a marked police car and begged him to come and save the suicidal man. According to Forestell’s summary of the case, Upjohn lied and said he was on a call.

He told the man to contact 911 and then drove away.

The concerned citizen found 19-year-old Alexandre Boucher in the park and cut him down from the tree. But it was too late.

He called 911 — and among those who responded was Upjohn.

The officer originally faced charges of criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessaries of life but those were dropped by the Crown when the time of death couldn’t be determined. Upjohn was then charged with breach of trust — usually laid when an official is accused of breaching his responsibilities as a public official.