RCMP officer cleared in hot tub touching incident
An RCMP officer won't be charged with sexual assault after he touched a female officer's buttocks during a Christmas party, according to the Nova Scotia's Serious Incident Response Team.
SIRT says the man, who was a supervising officer, the female officer and another male officer were all sitting in a hot tub during a party in November. The man under investigation was throwing the party.
According to SIRT, he and the female officer were intoxicated.
The report says when the female officer stood up to cool off, the host touched her buttocks. She said she thought it was his hand.
The other male officer saw and intervened. According to his statement, he saw the supervising officer "press his face against [her] buttocks."
The female officer, who only had a few years' service, didn't make a complaint but the incident was referred to SIRT.
"The investigation concluded that while there were reasonable grounds to conclude the incident occurred, the female officer was clear that she felt the matter should not proceed to criminal charges," reads the release .
The matter is being dealt with by the RCMP disciplinary processes.
