Megan Gillis
Sunday May 5, 2019
A rookie Ottawa police officer is suspended from duty after being arrested Friday morning and charged with sexual assault and forcible confinement.
Const. Sharmarke Ali, 32, is charged in an off-duty incident April 13.
Police say that detectives “immediately” launched an investigation when the 18-year-old woman complained that she was approached by a stranger on Rideau Street at about 3 a.m.
City police alerted the Special Investigations Unit, the civilian watchdog that investigates deaths, serious injuries and sexual assaults involving police, but it was agreed that the Ottawa Police Service would continue the probe.
The force’s professional standards sections also investigating and charges may be laid under the Police Services Act.
Ali, who was hired in August 2018, was released on conditions and appears in court June 6.
According to Ali’s LinkedIn profile, he attended Algonquin College and was a district manager at OSL Retail Services, where he worked for five years, before joining city police. No one at the company was available for comment Friday. Previously, Ali was a sales manager at Koodo Mobile.