Winnipeg police sergeant sues 2 fellow officers, says they falsely accused him of crime

A Winnipeg police sergeant is suing two fellow officers and the former head of the police union, alleging they tried to push him out of his job through an elaborate scheme that involved false accusations of threats.

A statement of claim filed Jan. 19 says the defendants, Adam Cheadle and Andrew Zurawsky, made false allegations that their supervisor Keith Alexander, the plaintiff, threatened another member of the Winnipeg Police Service for the "malicious purpose" of removing Alexander as their supervisor and forcing him to retire.

The lawsuit also names Maurice "Moe"Sabourin, the former president of the Winnipeg Police Association, as a defendant, alleging that Sabourin attempted to coerce Alexander into pleading guilty after he was charged with uttering threats as a result of the allegations.

"The conduct against Alexander was malicious and calculated to subvert the administration of criminal justice against Alexander in order to bring about an unlawful result," the statement of claim says.

"As such it is deserving of punishment."

The claim says Alexanderwas assigned to directly supervise Cheadle and Zurawsky starting in March 2019.

A few weeks later, Cheadle sent an email to Zurawsky, Sabourin and various managers in the Winnipeg Police Service, accusing Alexander of threatening another member of the Winnipeg Police Service, the statement of claim says.

Alexander's suit says Cheadle and Zurawsky were "fully aware" that the statements they gave were false and were "contrived such that the only witnesses to the alleged threats were Cheadle and Zurawsky."

Pushed to plead guilty: lawsuit

Lawyer Richard Wolson was hired to represent Alexander shortly after, with his fees paid for by the Winnipeg Police Association, the union representing police officers in Winnipeg.

Alexander was arrested by members of the Winnipeg Police Service's professional standards unit in October 2019 and charged with two counts of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm.

The statement of claim says Wolson attempted to arrange a plea agreement, even though Alexander made it clear that he intended to plead not guilty.

The proposed plea agreement would have seen the charges stayed if Alexander retired from the Winnipeg Police Service, got counsellingand committed to never working as a police officer again, among other conditions, the lawsuit says.

When the proposal was put to Alexander in May 2020, he refused to accept it and remindedWolson that he intended to plead not guilty. Trial dates were then booked for October 2021.

A few months before the trial was slated to begin, Sabourin threatened to stop paying for Wolson's services if Alexander didn't accept the plea bargain, the statement of claim says.

As a result, Alexander dismissed Wolson as his defence lawyer and retained other counsel in September 2021.

The charges against Alexander were stayed by the Crown in February 2022.

The lawsuit is asking for an unspecified amount of general and punitive damages "of such a magnitude that they and others will be sufficiently deterred from ever engaging in such conduct in the future."

No statements of defence have been filed and none of the allegations in Alexander's lawsuit have been proven in court.

Sabourin said Tuesday that he had not been served with the statement of claim yet.

"It would be premature to advise on a course of action until I have all the details," he said via email.

CBC News attempted to contact Cheadle and Zurawsky through the Winnipeg Police Association Tuesday but did not receive a response.

Wolson did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.