Warning: This article contains disturbing images and details. Former Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer Scott Anthony failed to appear in the Bracebridge virtual court Tuesday to address his latest charges. Anthony is one of two former officers accused of lying in their notebooks following a violent arrest, caught on camera, four years ago in MacTier, Ont. The charges were launched by a man who can seen in the surveillance video being punched, kicked, and tasered before being dragged into a police cruiser while his hands were cuffed behind his back. RELATED: Former OPP officers accused of lying, obstruction of justice, assault in violent 2022 arrest caught on camera The former officers had their criminal charges addressed in a Bracebridge courtroom. The complainant filed the private prosecution earlier this year against 53-year-old Anthony and 30-year-old Ethan Meyer, who are alleged to have been working together during the arrest at about 3:20 a.m. on July 10, 2022, following a railyard trespassing call. Anthony, who pleaded guilty last year to assaulting the man during the arrest, is now accused obstruction of justice and fabrication of evidence. RELATED: OPP officer pleads guilty to assault for violent arrest in MacTier in 2022 The entire brutal arrest was caught on camera, seemingly unbeknownst to the officers. Anthony abruptly resigned from the OPP ahead of his sentencing hearing last summer when the court heard Anthony admit he was no longer fit to serve as a police officer, struggling with PTSD the night he brutally pummelled the man who suffered serious injuries including nine broken ribs. Anthony escaped an actual jail sentence, handed 18 months under house arrest and curfew. RELATED: Police officer caught beating man on camera avoids jail time Meyer, who arrived on scene about five minutes later to assist Anthony with the arrest, is also now charged with assault, assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm. The surveillance video appears to show Meyer striking and using his taser on the man who was on the ground, before he is grabbed by his legs, dragged and taken away from the scene. The private prosecution alleges the officers colluded to lie in their notebooks about what happened that night; with the surveillance video telling a very different story from what the officers reported in their official notes. Anthony was charged months later by the Special Investigations Unit when it received the surveillance video. He was charged with assault, assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm, pleading guilty to only the final charge. Meyer, who was in probationary status at the time of the incident, left the OPP in the midst of the SIU’s investigation and was never charged. He later joined the Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service in Northern Ontario, who confirmed Meyer has been suspended with pay pending the outcome of the proceedings. Meyer is represented by Oshawa defence lawyer Sandip Khehra, who declined to comment on the case. Khehra has defended several high-profile police officers facing criminal charges, including, most recently, retired Toronto Police officer John Madeley Sr. of Barrie, who is among eight Toronto police officers charged in the Project South police corruption investigation. Anthony is scheduled to return to a virtual Bracebridge courtroom in two weeks, Meyer in early December. The allegations against them have not been tested in court.
