OPP officer killed in Bourget was also seriously hurt in 2008 arrest
CBC
The Ontario Provincial Police officer who was fatally shot Thursday in Bourget, Ont., was also seriously injured and required months of rehabilitation after an arrest-gone-wrong 15 years ago.
Sgt. Eric Mueller died May 11 in what the force's commissioner, Thomas Carrique, described as an early morning "ambush" in the small community about 50 kilometres east of Ottawa.
Mueller, 42, and two other officers were called to a disturbance at a home on Laval Street just after 2 a.m. when they were all shot by someone inside, OPP said.
All three were taken to hospital in Ottawa, where Mueller succumbed to his injuries.
"Our hearts are broken as we remember Eric," Carrique said at a news conference Thursday in Ottawa. "We stand beside his family, and we focus our attention on the recovery of the [other two] officers."
Mueller was an "exemplary officer" and a "family man," Carrique said, who started his career in 2002 in Ottawa as a special constable with the force's offender transport unit.
He was hired as a full constable in 2006, Carrique said.
Roughly two years later, Mueller suffered a broken leg, bruises and scrapes when he was struck by the driver of a tractor-trailer during an attempted arrest near Cardinal, Ont., according to a 2010 judge's ruling posted on Canlii.
The driver was wanted on a warrant for failing to show up in court. Mueller and two other OPP officers stopped him on a Highway 401 exit ramp, but when Mueller approached, the driver revved his engine and tried to speed off.
Mueller raced back to his cruiser, but he was hit by the truck's trailer.
He was crushed against his cruiser and then sent flying into the air, according to the details in the ruling. The impact fractured his right leg, and Mueller needed three operations and several months of rehab and recovery.
The driver ultimately pleaded guilty to four charges and was found guilty on two others.
The Ontario Provincial Police Association confirmed Thursday that Mueller was indeed the same officer who'd broken his leg during the 2008 arrest.
Carrique also told reporters Thursday that Mueller had been "very seriously injured" in an unspecified incident "a number of years ago."
A holiday event that began in 2020 during the pandemic with three floats on pickup trucks has now become one of Kelowna’s big winter events, drawing thousands to the city’s downtown core.
WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse.
It’s been hard to keep track of how many legal challenges and active court proceedings the United Conservative government has tried to quash or pre-emptively block in the last six weeks, but let’s try to tally:
Margaret Walker, the emcee of a Waterloo vigil commemorating the victims of the Montreal massacre, doesn't feel enough is being done to reflect on the killings and address gender-based violence.
The P.E.I. Humane Society says it is doing far more fundraising than it used to, and rising expenses — including the cost of animal medications — are a big reason why.
Ottawa is staring down a court-ordered deadline to submit a new plan to reform the on-reserve child welfare system, as a group of First Nations leaders and children’s advocates prepare a competing proposal.
An underpass revitalization project that was meant to pay tribute to the people of Parkdale has instead deteriorated into “a garbage dump,” according to nearby residents.
A young man has been charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm after a fire at a frat party near Western University that injured five sorority sisters, including two seriously, late Tuesday night.
The massive deal to combine one of Hollywood's oldest studios with a streaming giant hasn't even been approved yet, but it's already riling multiple related industries and politicians concerned about monopolies and media concentration.
Mi'kmaq chiefs and a former Nova Scotia justice minister are criticizing the provincial government for directing police to crack down on illegal cannabis, saying the order undermines relations with Indigenous Peoples.
For years, there has been “glaring inequity” in the way the province has allocated the millions of dollars in its county roads budget, according to Department of Transportation Minister Chuck Chiasson.
Six months after passing a law aimed at making it easier for new grocery stores to open, Manitoba's premier says lower grocery bills could be on the horizon.
Timothy Smith was acting in self-defence when he punched Landon Waddell, and shouldn't be found guilty of manslaughter, his lawyer says.