Officer pleads guilty over online remarks following death of indigenous artist
OTTAWA — An Ottawa police officer apologized to his family, the force and the Inuit community on Tuesday after pleading guilty to two Police Services Act charges in connection with online remarks he made about the death of indigenous artist Annie Pootoogook.
Sgt. Chris Hrnchiar — a 30-year veteran who was working as a forensic investigator at the time of the remarks — was charged with two counts of discreditable conduct under the act.
In September, Hrnchiar posted Facebook comments — described during Tuesday’s hearing as “racist” — suggesting Pootoogook’s death ought not to be linked to the phenomenon of missing and murdered indigenous women across Canada.
Pootoogook’s body was found in the Rideau River on Sept. 19 — a death that police did not originally treat as suspicious.