The three Canadian officers were charged with the alleged sexual and physical assault of a sex worker in Barcelona on May 13, Mossos d’Esquadra, the Catalonian police force, said.JOSEP LAGO/AFP/Getty Images
Three off-duty Toronto police officers were arrested in Spain last week and have been charged in an alleged assault of a sex worker in Barcelona, according to the local police force.
The officers were on vacation and were not travelling in an official capacity, the Toronto Police Service confirmed.
Mossos d’Esquadra, the Catalonian police force, told The Globe and Mail that the incident took place in a taxi in the neighborhood of Ciutat Vella in Barcelona on May 13. The three Canadian officers were charged with the alleged sexual and physical assault.
One officer was taken into judicial custody on May 15, another officer was arrested and later released, and the third was arrested in Palma de Mallorca on May 15.
Thida Ith, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada, said that it is aware of the arrests of three Canadian citizens in Spain.
According to a source with knowledge of the arrests, the Toronto police officers are Rich Rand, Evan Glennie and Caglar Yigit. The Globe and Mail is not identifying the source because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
The TPS has confirmed that all three officers are now back in Canada and have been suspended with pay as authorized by the police chief in accordance with the Community Safety and Policing Act.
“The Service will explore the breadth of the Act and legal thresholds to consider suspension without pay,” said Nadine Ramadan, senior communications adviser for the service.
According to the act, officers are suspended with pay when they are suspected of misconduct. They are suspended without pay when they are convicted of an offence and sentenced to imprisonment, are in custody or are charged with a serious offence under a law in Canada.
The CSPA was implemented on April 1, 2024, and replaced the Police Services Act. Under the old act, if a police officer was convicted of an offence and sentenced to imprisonment at the same time, they would be suspended without pay. If an officer was convicted of a crime but not sentenced to imprisonment, they would be suspended with pay, unless they were fired.
The TPS said “the allegations are serious,” but declined to offer further comment as the matters of the individual officers are now in the hands of the courts.
The Toronto Police Association declined to comment on the situation, saying the three members were on vacation abroad and the charges were related to an off-duty incident.
With a report from Molly Hayes