York Regional Police officers found negligent in investigation of Ont. teen hockey player's death

CTV National News: Cops negligent in teen’s death An independent report found four York Regional police officers negligent in a teen hockey player's 2019 death. TSN's Rick Westhead reports.

Years after 17-year-old Ben Teague died during an overnight “team building” event hosted by his Oakville Rangers minor hockey team, four York Regional Police Service officers involved in investigating his death have been found negligent by the Ontario Provincial Police.

Jennifer Ross, a detective sergeant in the OPP's professional standards unit, concluded in an Oct. 23, 2023, report that allegations of “neglect of duty” had been substantiated against detective sergeants Heather Bentham and Kenneth Golding, Det. John Loughry, and Sgt. Robert Worthman. Ontario’s police watchdog, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, commissioned the OPP to investigate York Regional Police.

The OPP’s report has not been documented before now. Susan and Greg Teague, Ben’s parents, said they were initially told by the OIPRD they could not share the report publicly. When they asked the agency recently to clarify its authority to prevent them from making the report public, they said they were told they could share it.

It’s unclear whether York Regional Police disciplined any of the officers who were found negligent.

The York Regional Police did not respond to a request for comment. Wayne Emmerson, the chair of the York Regional Police Service Board, wrote in an email that the board was not involved with the investigations into the police department’s alleged negligence.

On Sept. 13, 2019, Ben joined 13 teammates and four coaches with the Rangers Midget Double-A hockey team, for a weekend hosted at the YMCA Cedar Glen Outdoor Centre, in Schomberg, Ont. The weekend consisted of planned team-building exercises in addition to a two-night stay in a cabin at the facility.

After Ben and his teammates drank alcohol during their first evening at the camp, Ben told his coaches Ian Blacker and Alex Susi sometime after 5 a.m. that he was experiencing leg pain and told them he had been drinking, the OPP report says. As his pain became excruciating, a call was placed to 911 and Ben was taken by ambulance to Brampton Civic Hospital where he was pronounced dead on Sept. 14, 2019, at 7:07 a.m.

Two years after Ben’s death, police still had not interviewed all of the Rangers players and coaches. In September 2021, Dr. Chris Veenama, a coroner involved with the case, issued a warrant for police to obtain the roster of players and personnel in attendance at the camp, the report says.

(Even today, several of the players still have not been interviewed.)

In January 2022, after the cause of Ben’s death was determined as acute myocardial injury with necrosis associated with recent alcohol consumption, Greg and Susan Teague filed a $1 million wrongful death lawsuit against the Rangers, the team’s coaches, the Ontario Minor Hockey Association, and the YMCA camp where Ben had died.

In a statement of defence, the Rangers, their coaches and the OMHA argued that player codes of conduct “precluded the underage players from drinking alcohol. The [Oakville Rangers] had Zero Tolerance for alcohol consumption. All players, including Benjamin, were aware that they were not permitted to bring alcohol to the event and were not to consume alcoholic beverages while in attendance at the event.”

The defendants also argued that the coaches “provided reasonable and appropriate supervision to the players, taking into consideration the age and experience of the players. The players were 16 and 17 years old.”

A trial date has not yet been set.

After another year passed, the Teagues on April 3, 2023, filed a complaint with the OIPRD, which assigned the OPP to investigate the conduct of York Regional Police officers.

In its October 2023 report, the OPP detailed how the four officers had been negligent.

According to York Regional Police policy cited in the report, police responding to death investigations are supposed to preserve the integrity of evidence by isolating witnesses to ensure they do not discuss their observations with each other; observe and identify all people or vehicles leaving the scene, including potential witnesses.

“This was not done,” the report said. “No statements were taken or tasked to be taken from the boys or coaches by Sgt. Worthman while at Cedar Glen, and only some contact details were recorded in his notebook. Further, it is not believed the boys and coaches were separated by Sgt. Worthman.”

The OIPRD, which was renamed the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency in April, said York Regional Police Superintendent Jim Killby had also reviewed the Teague complaint.

“During his review, Supt. Killby looked at all of the investigative actions, notes, and requested Det. Loughry send him the overview he completed, and he spoke with the coroner’s office,” the OPP report says.

“The first thing he noted was that the complaint was in March 2022, and the death investigation was from 2019. He observed there were three different OICs (Officer in Charge) on the file, which he said was not good customer service. He also observed there to be long periods or long breaks in time from when investigative activities had been entered into their system which translated to work not being done. The witness list was short; however, there was an indication that there were 13 boys at the camp. Supt. Killby said at the very least, investigators should have spoken to the boys, coaches and family members and that had not been done.

“Some of the scene preservation steps should have been taken and did not happen, and the mindset right away was that this had to be medical and was treated like that from the beginning. The front-line sergeant should have taken down the names.”

Rather than police taking custody of Ben’s cell phone and belongings, which was York Regional Police policy, Ben’s belongings were put into his truck, and one of his coaches drove it to the Teagues’ home, the OPP report says.

While the OIPRD asked the OPP to investigate the conduct of York Regional Police officers, York Regional Police retained the service aspect of the Teague complaint, specifically related to the delayed police investigation. York Regional Police said it determined that its officers’ service met with the organization’s standards.

Hockey Canada’s independent third party is also investigating the case, looking at the actions of the Rangers coaches connected to Ben’s death.

In a W5 story that aired in March 2023, Susan Teague explained that when it became clear to her that Ben’s death was not being properly investigated by the OHF or the police, she began her own investigation. She began inviting Ben’s teammates and their parents to her home to find out what had happened at the camp.

The Teagues were told that in September 2018, during a team-building event at the camp in Ben's first year with the Rangers, Ben was one of the rookie players who were directed by the team’s senior players to strip naked and try to avoid being "tagged."

Ben was the last player caught and for that, won rookie of the year on the team, according to Susan Teague. She says she was told this by Rangers coach Mark Moro.

"Our story is a story about hockey culture because what we have been told time and time again is that team bonding is something that takes place through shared secrets," she said. "After Ben’s death we had a number of boys tell us, 'What happens on the team stays on the team.'"