A former Ottawa firefighter has been found not guilty of assaulting and choking a non-binary colleague during a ritualistic scuffle over the dinner dishes at a Barrhaven fire station two years ago.
Their captain has been found not guilty of threatening to discipline the alleged victim in an attempt to keep the incident under wraps.
Justice Mitchell Hoffman handed down his decision in an Ottawa courtroom Wednesday morning. The judge-alone criminal trial heard evidence from seven witnesses over 12 days in May.
Lawyers for the Crown and the accused made their closing submissions in early July, and Hoffman was originally expected to hand down his decision in August.
Former Ottawa firefighter Eric Einagel, 39, was charged with choking and assault causing bodily harm.
Capt. Greg Wright, 58, was accused of threatening to discipline the complainant, Ash Weaver, to prevent them from reporting the incident that unfolded on Sept. 14, 2022, at Station 47 on Greenbank Road in Barrhaven.
“Ash Weaver was not assaulted by Eric Einagel and was not threatened by Greg Wright,” Hoffman said Wednesday.
Both accused faced additional charges that were dropped earlier in the Ontario Court of Justice trial.
Court heard differing accounts
Witnesses offered the trial starkly different accounts of the scuffle between Einagel and Weaver, which Ottawa police investigated as a hate crime, as well as what happened before and after the incident.
Weaver, who is non-binary, testified Einagel choked them with both hands during their altercation at the fire station’s kitchen sink, lifted them off the ground and smashed their head into the countertop.
Weaver also said over the six weeks they worked together at Station 47, Einagel routinely questioned their gender identity and told them they didn’t belong because of who they are.
Einagel denied intentionally wrapping his hands around Weaver’s neck and gave an altogether different account of the scuffle. Another witness testified she saw Einagel place one hand on Weaver’s throat, but for no more than a second.
Court also heard evidence that Einagel is in fact a staunch ally of the 2SLGBTQ+ community and witnesses denied hearing him speak disparagingly about Weaver’s gender identity. Court heard evidence that the two had been friendly before the incident, though witnesses described Weaver as generally guarded and stand-offish.
Einagel’s lawyers argued the scuffle itself was part of unique custom among rookie firefighters who engage in physical duels for the “right” to perform menial chores such as washing dishes or mopping floors.
Ottawa Fire Services has since ordered firefighters to cease the practice.
Einagel’s lawyer Dominic Lamb called the altercation “a mutual and consensual back and forth,” and described such horseplay generally “the stuff of fire halls — pushing and shoving, bodychecking and tackling.” He also pointed out the two had jostled over the dishes before without incident.
Lamb dismissed Weaver’s account of what happened at Station 47 and Einagel’s attitude toward them as “fantastical.”
Similarly, Wright’s lawyer dismissed Weaver’s version of a conversation between the captain and the rookie that took place in a utility closet after the altercation, insisting Wright never tried to intimidate Weaver into keeping the incident to themself.
More to come.