Ontario’s police watchdog did not identify the complainant when it announced last month it was charging a Sarnia police officer with assault causing bodily harm.
But court records show Scott MacPherson, a 35-year-old Sarnia resident, is the person the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said suffered a serious injury while being arrested during a trespassing call at St. Paul’s Church on Devine Street on Oct. 23 , 2022.
After announcing the charge in early July laid against Const. Sean Van Vlymen, a first-class constable with about a dozen years of experience, the SIU provided few other details, saying the case was before the courts. The case appeared briefly in court for the first time Thursday, where it was adjourned to later this month.
Van Vlymen was also charged earlier this year by Lambton OPP with impaired driving linked to an off-duty incident at the Blue Water Bridge, but that charge was dropped last month after he pleaded guilty to careless driving under the Highway Traffic Act. Van Vlymen avoided a criminal record, but was hit with a hefty fine, driving limitations, and a lecture from the judge.
Sarnia police previously said Van Vlymen had been assigned to non-operational duties while Chief Derek Davis directed an internal investigation under the Police Services Act. Although the court case has come to an end, the results of the internal investigation are still pending.
As for the charge laid by the SIU, Sarnia police said they couldn’t comment on it.
Van Vlymen was previously disciplined in August 2016, when he was demoted from first- to second-class constable for six months after pleading guilty to three counts of misconduct in a hearing through the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD), a civilian oversight agency that investigates public complaints about police.
Van Vlymen was the sixth Sarnia police officer to face criminal charges since August 2020. Two have been convicted while three of the charges have been tossed out and two are still before the courts.
MacPherson, meanwhile, received a 100-day jail sentence earlier this year for multiple offenses during a drug-induced crime spree including impaired driving, prohibited driving, breaking and entering, and failing to follow court orders.