Former Canadian Tire employee not charged after assault allegation

Regina police have wrapped up a case that prompted peaceful protests and the dismissal of a Canadian Tire employee. The outcome: no criminal charges.

The employee and the company parted ways after a video of him accusing a customer of shoplifting then asking him to leave before physically removing him from the store went viral on social media in July.

The customer, 53-year-old Kamao Cappo – an Indigenous man, said he was profiled due to his race.

On Thursday, Regina police announced they’d concluded their investigation and weren’t laying any charges. Police said their investigation included video evidence recorded by Cappo.

Police said that due to complexities in the case, the prosecutions branch of Saskatchewan Justice took over the case, and ultimately decided against pursuing charges.

“We received notification just the other day that their recommendation was that we would not be proceeding with charges,” police Chief Evan Bray said.

Bray said prosecutions have to decide on the likelihood of conviction and if it is in the public’s interest to proceed with the case.

Police said the investigation became more complicated due to the claims the employee accused Cappo because he is Indigenous.

“This is a highly sensitive case, we saw that, there was a lot of political communication around there, there was a lot of social media activity about this,” Bray said.

It was those reasons that police choose to have prosecutions look at the case and ultimately come to a decision.

Bray said they have a working relationship with the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations and informed them of the decision as well, due to their involvement with the peaceful protest that took place.

Bray said when they handed over their evidence, there was no video from inside the store other than Cappo’s.

“We did take video from Mr. Cappo, he had video on his personal device that he took, any piece of that we could gather we would but we can’t make up something that’s not there,” Bray said. “When we went to gather it, there was nothing there.”

Police said Cappo was informed of the outcome Thursday in a meeting with police and the government.

Bray said that business owners, and people acting on behalf of the owner, have the right to ask people to leave the business. He said how much force a person can use is dictated by the situation.