Two officers with the Windsor Police in Windsor, Ontario, are facing misconduct charges after allegedly donating $50 or less to the Freedom Convoy of Canadian truckers who drew international attention earlier this year.
Constables Jason Michael Brisco and Brooke Fazekas were slapped with charges of discreditable conduct under Ontario’s Police Services Act in response to allegations the pair donated $50 and $40, respectively, to the convoy, according to the Windsor Star. Brisco appeared for a Zoom hearing Monday.
Brisco and Fazekas' names allegedly appeared on a convoy donor list that was hacked and leaked last winter.
The convoy, which protested national vaccine mandates by snarling traffic in the Canadian capital of Ottawa for weeks, also blocked key U.S.-Canada border crossings, including the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit, Michigan.
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In a message appended to his alleged donation, Brisco thanked his fellow Canadians "for fighting for freedom at the base of Sauron’s Tower," a reference to the disembodied source of evil and oppression in J.R.R. Tolkien’s "The Lord of the Rings" novels.
After the Windsor Police Service’s professional standards branch conducted an investigation, the department also disciplined a civilian employee with a one-day suspension without pay.
In a statement provided to Fox News Digital, Deputy Chief Frank Providenti said: "The Windsor Police condemns the actions of two sworn members and one civilian employee who made donations to support the Freedom Convoy that blocked access to the Ambassador Bridge earlier this year."
"We hold our members to the highest standards of conduct, and those who fail to maintain those principles must be held accountable for their behavior. By choosing to support an illegal blockade at our country’s busiest border crossing, these members demonstrated a complete disregard for our city’s economy and reputation as well as for the safety of their own colleagues who were dealing with the volatile situation," Providenti added.
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The deputy chief added that the Windsor Police department "condemns the actions of two sworn members and one civilian employee who made donations to support the Freedom Convoy that blocked access to the Ambassador Bridge earlier this year."
Canada and its political leadership made international headlines and drew widespread scrutiny for their crackdown on the trucker convoy. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act to quell the protests, which opened the door for the government to seize the property and freeze the bank accounts of those involved.
