A long-time police officer who left his service-issued gun and ammunition inside a bar after a night of drinking has pleaded guilty to professional misconduct at the Toronto police disciplinary tribunal. Toronto police Const. Bradley Karges, an officer with 19 years on the force, was off-duty when he went to Milton’s Rad Brothers Sports Bar in September 2017 with another officer, bringing with him his unloaded semi-automatic handgun and three rounds of ammunition stored inside a lunch cooler.After consuming what a police tribunal document characterized as “several alcoholic beverages,” Karges left the bar, forgetting the cooler. One of the officers had been cut off by bar staff, criminal court heard last year, though Karges disputed it was him. Staff later opened up the cooler and, finding a gun, called Halton Regional Police, who charged Karges with careless use of a firearm. Karges also contacted Halton police after realizing he’d forgotten his gun and surrendered to them the same day. He later entered a guilty plea and was granted a conditional discharge, sentenced to one year of probation and had to perform 100 hours of community service. “It goes without saying that the offence here shows an incredible lack of judgment,” said Crown Michael Godinho during Karges’ criminal plea last year. “That things didn’t turn out worse — that someone with some nefarious means or intentions didn’t get a hold of the firearm — is lucky, I think.”“Obviously the public, the patrons of the restaurant, the staff, were all put at risk,” he said. Police officers who are criminally charged automatically face a professional misconduct charge under Ontario’s Police Services Act. In a hearing Tuesday, Karges pleaded guilty to discreditable conduct for having been found guilty of a criminal offence. His lawyer Lawrence Gridin and the Toronto police prosecutor brought forward a joint submissi ...
|
