In an Ottawa courtroom on Friday, Sundeep Singh pleaded guilty to breach of trust and the sexual assault charge was dropped. He also submitted his resignation from the Ottawa Police Service, which was “accepted and processed immediately,” the force announced that day. The agreed statement of facts filed in court says Singh was one of four officers sent to help the 19-year-old after she left a party drunk and went home in early February 2021, not properly dressed for the cold weather. After she lost feeling in her legs and began having thoughts of harming herself, she called a child helpline she was familiar with, who then called police to help her, the statement said.
No officers were assigned to watch the teenager
Singh, who was on the midnight to 8 a.m. shift, was the first of the officers to arrive in a marked police SUV. Officers determined she was not suicidal, but required medical attention for possible frostbite and hypothermia. The 19-year-old waited in Singh’s patrol car for the ambulance to arrive and their interaction there was “professional and courteous,” according to the statement. Paramedics arrived, placed her in an ambulance and transported her to the Ottawa Hospital campus. None of the officers went with her, none were assigned to continue with her, and all were instructed to clear the call to be available for other missions, the statement said. The teenager was hospitalized, but the attending physician did not allow her to leave. She left anyway, was chased by hospital staff and returned “against her will”. After later being cleared to leave, she declined a taxi offered by the hospital and decided to walk to her residence, the statement said. Ottawa police headquarters on Elgin Street. The force accepted Singh’s resignation on Friday. (Hugo Belanger/CBC)
She discussed her “ongoing mental health issues.”
Singh called her cellphone shortly after she left and, surprised to hear he wasn’t at the hospital, asked where he was. She told him and at about 4:15 he came to pick her up and offered to take her home, which she accepted. “As they drove … they chatted about her ongoing mental health issues and her relationship history,” the statement said. They wanted to continue talking when they arrived, so Singh parked in a spot nearby. “Their conversation became more personal and flirtatious. [She] she suggested that Singh come from the front seat to sit in the back seat with her, but he refused,” the statement said. He asked if she had any pictures or videos of her that he could see and she showed him nude pictures on her phone. She added his contact information to her phone with a capital S instead of his name, the statement said. Singh then sexually touched her through an opening in the Plexiglas partition in the back seat and they stayed there for half an hour before he drove to her residence, walked her to her door and left, according to the statement. The teenager realized she had left her phone in Singh’s vehicle. As she was getting ready for bed, she “heard someone talking in her roommate and went out to find Const. Singh, who had returned with her phone.’ She invited him to her bedroom, where they had sex, the statement said. Singh left soon after, at about 5:45 am
He had been suspended with pay since February 2021
Before resigning on Friday, Singh had been suspended with pay from February 2021. Ontario’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), charged Singh in October 2021 after receiving an allegation of sexual assault on February 9, 2021. According to Ottawa Police Board documents, Singh was one of the officers hired in the December 2017 class of 14 recruits. The police service said it had intended to bring its own disciplinary charges and terminate Singh’s employment at a Police Services Act hearing, but that was rendered unnecessary by Singh’s resignation.
