Windsor police officer found not guilty in assault trial

Windsor police officer, Sgt. Deler Bal, has been found not guilty on assault charges in an Ottawa trial.

Windsor police officer Sgt. Deler Bal has been found not guilty in a trial for an alleged assault.

Bal was found not guilty on two counts of assault and one count of assault causing bodily harm.

The incident took place in September 2023 in the bathroom of Prohibited Public House on Somerset Street.

The sergeant was off duty at the time of the incident but was in Ottawa for the annual Canadian Police and Peace Officers’ Memorial Service on Parliament Hill.

Bal was at Prohibited with 18 members of the Windsor Police Honour Guard the night before the ceremony.

He entered the bathroom and accidentally opened the door to a stall occupied by Donald Conner. After apologizing, he was reportedly approached by Conner, who Justice Juliana Martel said, “escalated the situation.”

Bal apologized twice and asked Conner to “let it go”, but Conner approached to within a foot of Bal, who admitted to making the first move by shoving Conner before punching him.

Martel believed Bal acted in self-defense to create space and avoid an altercation, which failed.

Justice Martel also questioned Conner’s reliability on important aspects of his testimony and said there were “major inconsistencies in his evidence, which make it difficult for the court to accept his evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Martel said she doesn’t condone violence, but the Crown did not rebut Bal’s claim of self-defense. She concluded Bal was entitled to an acquittal.

- With files from CTV Windsor’s Michelle Maluske.