Winnipeg councillor Ross Eadie reacts to being suspended from police board

WINNIPEG — We’ve all done things we wish we hadn’t.

That’s how Councillor Ross Eadie feels after spending a night in the drunk tank last year and now that one night is threatening his position on the police board.

“While the inquiry is on I’m suspended,” Eadie said, speaking to reporters at city hall Friday.

Councillor Eadie is being investigated by board members after a drunken night out on November 7.

“I was very drunk, passed out,” said Eadie on November 10 about the ordeal. “It involved lots of beer and at the end of the night some shooters.”

But Eadie refuses to resign from the police board and says he’ll fight to remain a member.

“Was I acting on behalf of the Winnipeg Police Board when I passed out in the taxi? No,” said Eadie. “Does the Winnipeg Police Board run the police service, no it doesn’t .”

READ MORE: Councillor Eadie apologizes for ‘inappropriate drunkenness’

The board says the issue isn’t that Councillor Eadie spent the night at the Main Street Project, instead it’s about what he said and how he acted, something Eadie doesn’t remember.

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“By his admission he said he was belligerent and he may have said things that weren’t appropriate,” said Barry Tuckett, vice-chairman of the board. “We’re just trying to determine how inappropriate or what those comments were.”

And whether Eadie broke the board’s Code of Ethical Conduct, which states “Board members shall refrain from acting unlawfully and/or from engaging in conduct that would discredit or compromise the integrity of the board or the police service.”

“There is a code of conduct and there’s public expectations of a board as well and I would expect you would conduct yourself according to the code,” said Tuckett.

If the board finds Eadie broke the rules, he could be disciplined or asked to resign.

“It is strenuous,” said Eadie,. “And whenever in the media here my sister in Athabasca reads about her drunk brother it’s very humiliating and I’m just really looking forward to it being over.”

The board will make a decision in the coming weeks.