Former cop sues police chief and town of Amherst

Blair Rhodes · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 31, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: March 31

A erstwhile Amherst, N.S., constabulary serviceman is suing the municipality and the main of constabulary for defamation.

Mark Rushton, who filed his suit successful Nova Scotia Supreme Court earlier this month, alleges accusations past twelvemonth that helium misrepresented his qualifications for his job have ruined his estimation and vocation and caused idiosyncratic hardships.

Rushton resigned on June 6, 2024, just 10 days aft being told a ailment had been made against him nether the Nova Scotia Police Act.

He worked for the Amherst Police Department for astir a twelvemonth arsenic a constable and says successful his suit that his resignation was not related to the complaint, but alternatively was the effect of a determination to determination to the Annapolis Valley to beryllium person to his family.

According to his lawsuit, Rushton was served with the ailment connected May 27, 2024, and it accused him of acting "in a disorderly manner" and having "willfully [made] a mendacious oregon misleading connection successful an authoritative record."

When Amherst constabulary announced the pursuing period that they were conducting an interior probe of one of their ain officers, police Chief Dwayne Pike never identified Rushton by sanction successful his nationalist statements erstwhile helium said they were investigating questions astir an officer's credentials and qualifications.

But the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service and tribunal documents did place him. The prosecution work launched a reappraisal of each cases Rushton handled during his clip connected the Amherst force, resulting successful 9 charges against 7 radical being dropped.

In his lawsuit, Rushton contends Pike's comments "tend to little the estimation of the Plaintiff by close reasoning members of society" and were "libellous and defamatory."

In an email, Laura Neilan, the lawyer who filed the suit connected behalf of Rushton, said she "looked guardant to vindicating his estimation during the litigation process."

"We person not seen a shred of grounds to suggest that Mr. Rushton was dishonest during the interrogation process, oregon that helium lacks the indispensable qualifications to enactment arsenic a constabulary serviceman successful Amherst," the email said.

Rushton worked arsenic a subject constabulary serviceman successful 2017 and served as a sergeant bid officer with a municipality successful Alberta before taking the occupation successful Amherst.

Reputation, career 'have been destroyed'

Rushton said the Amherst department had his resumé and a afloat grounds of his training, which includes graduation from the Canadian Forces Military Police Academy and Dalhousie University's constabulary enactment program.

His suit says there's thing successful the Police Act to suggest his military constabulary grooming was inadequate and asserts that "his estimation and vocation person been destroyed arsenic a effect of Chief Pike's libellous statements."

Rushton says he's been incapable to get a occupation with a municipal constabulary unit due to the fact that immoderate inheritance cheque invariably leads to stories astir his problems with the Amherst force.

He says helium tried to resume enactment arsenic a subject constabulary officer, but the unit wouldn't judge him until aft it conducted its ain probe into his credentials. He was capable to onshore a short-term declaration with them that expires this month.

Rushton says successful the suit that helium has mislaid custody of his children and been forced to question bankruptcy extortion due to the fact that of his deficiency of dependable employment.

"Chief Pike's statements were made with a reckless disregard for the consequences to the Plaintiff's estimation and livelihood and arsenic such, they magnitude to atrocious faith, warranting some aggravated and punitive damages," the suit says.

While nary circumstantial monetary magnitude is referenced successful the suit, Rushton's lawyer said successful its preamble that the lawsuit falls wrong a regularisation that limits damages to nether $150,000.

None of the allegations successful the suit person been tested successful tribunal and nary of the participants accepted CBC's invitation to remark connected the case.