2 charges dropped in firefighter assault trial
A judge dismissed a harassment charge against a former Ottawa firefighter who allegedly attacked a non-binary colleague at a Barrhaven fire station back in 2022, as well as a negligence charge against their captain.
On Thursday at the Ottawa Courthouse, Crown prosecutors invited Justice Mitchell Hoffman to dismiss a charge of criminal harassment against Eric Einagel.
He is still facing two other charges for allegedly choking and assaulting a non-binary colleague, Ash Weaver, who was a rookie firefighter at the time of the incident on Sept. 14, 2022.
Prosecutors also recommended dismissing a negligence causing bodily harm charge against Greg Wright, the captain.
Hoffman said he agreed with the dismissals based on the evidence he's heard so far in the trial and entered the findings of not guilty on both counts.
Wright is still facing one other charge for allegedly threatening to discipline Weaver to prevent them from reporting the incident.
Ottawa firefighter Capt. Greg Wright, right, walks outside the Ottawa Courthouse on May 8, 2024. (Patrick Louiseize/CBC)
The Crown did not explain its reasons for advising Hoffman to dismiss the charges, but Wright's lawyer welcomed it.
"We're relieved, but not out of the woods yet," said Joshua Clarke.
Trial adjourned as defence prepares case
On Wednesday, the Crown finished calling evidence in their case after hearing from just two of the handful of witnesses they planned to bring forward since the trial began on May 6.
Einagel's lawyer, Dominic Lamb, said he expects to call witnesses when the defence presents its case.
That could include Scott Grakist, the platoon chief who first heard Weaver's complaint, and David Matschke, the deputy chief who conducted an internal investigation for Ottawa Fire Services (OFS).
The Crown initially had planned to call both men, but dropped them. It had already decided against calling another firefighter said to have witnessed the alleged assault.
The alleged violence happened Sept. 14, 2022, at Station 47 on Greenbank Road near Cambrian Road in Barrhaven. (Michel Aspirot/CBC)
Weaver testified last week that the alleged attack began with a dispute over who would wash dishes at the fire station.
Sobbing in the witness box, Weaver described how Einagel allegedly seized their wrists and slammed them into the kitchen counter, before grabbing them by the neck and raising them off the ground.
Weaver said they believed Einagel wanted to kill them. They also described alleged comments Einagel made questioning their non-binary gender identity.
But in four days of cross examination, defence lawyers accused Weaver of "mischaracterizing" the incident and argued that their account didn't line up with eyewitness testimony.
Ottawa firefighter Ash Weaver, right, walks with Sgt. Ali Toghrol of the Ottawa Police Service's hate and bias crime unit near the Ottawa Courthouse on May 8, 2024. (Patrick Louiseize/CBC)
Lamb said the defence will try to "hammer out an agreement" with the Crown on certain facts that would otherwise require witness testimony. Clarke said he's hoping to do the same.
"There's some bits and pieces of the witness evidence that we're hoping to get the Crown to acknowledge," he said, adding that it's likely he will call "very brief" evidence too.
He said the dismissal of the negligence charge against Wright greatly simplifies the "legal landscape."
Lamb said he expects the witness testimony will wrap up quickly, and the trial could wrap up by the end of the month.
