Central Hastings OPP officer charged with impaired driving after ATV crash

An OPP officer has been charged with impaired driving after police say she was involved in an ATV collision while off duty in Tyendinaga Township.

Det. Const. Trisha Salmon, a nine-year veteran with the OPP’s Central Hastings detachment, is facing two impaired driving charges following an incident on Sep. 28.

Lennox and Addington OPP say a 39-year-old driver turned over an ATV on private property on Lazier Road in Tyendinaga Township, throwing herself and two passengers off the vehicle.

The driver and one of the other passengers were sent to hospital with minor injuries but later released, according to police.

Although he could not speak to Salmon’s case, Lennox and Addington OPP Staff Sgt. Chris Watkins says that if an OPP officer were convicted of a criminal charge, this would constitute an automatic breach of the Police Services Act code of conduct, which would lead to a police disciplinary hearing.

The consequences vary, according to Watkins, but could include removal of leave and vacation time, demotions or, in the most serious cases, dismissal.

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“Any penalty levied is done so after examining the totality of the circumstances of the alleged breach (i.e. any aggravating or mitigating factors that may be present), just as would be done in a criminal court proceeding,” Watkins wrote in an emailed statement.

Salmon is set to appear at a Napanee court on Nov. 12 to answer to her charges.