Three off-duty Toronto police officers have been charged while vacationing in Barcelona after a sex worker was allegedly injured and sexually assaulted, Spanish authorities have confirmed.
The three men were arrested last week and two of them are accused of sexual assault and assault causing injuries, Catalonia police said in a media statement.
The incident occurred in a taxi on May 13 in the Ciutat Vella area of Barcelona, police said. Two of the officers were taken into custody by the Mossos d’Esquadra, the autonomous police force in Catalonia, and the third was located and arrested two days later in Palma de Mallorca.
Toronto Police Service spokesperson Stephanie Sayer told The Epoch Times the officers were on holiday in Spain’s second-largest city at the time of the incident and were not travelling “in any official capacity.”
“The allegations are serious. On arrival in Canada, one officer was suspended from duty as authorized by the Chief of Police in accordance with the Community Safety and Policing Act (CSPA),” Sayer said in an email. “The two other officers will also be suspended upon their return to Canada in the coming days.”
The spokesperson did not disclose the identities or ranks of the three officers.
The Toronto Police Association has also acknowledged the charges against the officers but declined to comment on the incident.
“We are aware of an incident involving three members who were on a vacation out-of-country,” association spokesperson Meaghan Gray said in a brief emailed statement. “Given these charges relate to an off-duty incident, the Toronto Police Association has no further comment.”
