No charges laid after worker struck by truck on picket line
The investigation into an incident on a picket line, resulting in a large police presence in Amherstview this week, has concluded, according to the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).
The incident occurred on Tuesday, May 17, 2022, just after 8 a.m., when sewer and water main sector workers from the Labourer’s International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 183 were picketing at the Barr Homes construction site, located at the intersection of County Road 23 and County Road 6. There, one of the picketing workers, Terry Moore, 52, was the victim of what the OPP are referring to as “an assault.”
At least three OPP cruisers responded to the scene due to “allegations of an assault.” That assault, Moore explained later that day, involved another worker in a Cataraqui Concrete truck hitting him with that truck. Moore alleged the driver of the truck – whom he indicated he’d worked with in the past – purposefully drove towards the picketing workers.
According to the OPP, “it is not known at this time if the involved parties were known to each other,” Brianna Raison, Community Safety/Media Relations Officer for the Lennox and Addington OPP, said in an email on Thursday, May 19, 2022.
Raison relayed that, “no one was transported to hospital,” a point Moore explained on Tuesday.
“The paramedics checked me out [at the site of the incident]. They wanted me to go to Kingston [General] Hospital. But I chose to drive to Campbellford in case I was stuck at the hospital. I don’t want to be stuck in Kingston, because I live in Marmora,” he said, noting his injuries included severe bruising to his leg.
On Friday, May 20, 2022, the OPP said, “no serious injuries were sustained.”
While Moore said Tuesday that he didn’t want to press charges against the worker who struck him with a truck, whom he identified knowing only as “Alfred.” He said, however, that he got the impression the OPP wanted to press charges, nevertheless. According to the OPP, that is not the case.
“Police spoke to those on scene as part of their investigation,” Raison said via email. “After speaking with the involved parties, no charges were laid. The investigation is complete.”
Multiple calls and an email to Cataraqui Concrete Forming Ltd., the company that owns the truck allegedly involved in the incident, remain unanswered at time of publication.
According to their website, LIUNA Local 183 members are on strike in several sectors besides water main and sewer, including the provincial forming; framing; tile; carpet and hardwood; and self-levelling sectors, having all rejected proposed settlements. The union is demanding fair compensation for its members given the ongoing increases in the cost of living that are being experienced across Ontario. The job action, by over 15,000 skilled construction Labourers could impact both ground-related and high-rise multifamily residential builds across Ontario.