Oshawa lawyer sues Durham police for $7.1M over alleged violent courthouse arrest

Criminal defence lawyer Sudine Riley has filed a $7.1-million lawsuit against the Durham Regional Police Service Board and five officers, alleging she was racially profiled and violently arrested inside the Oshawa courthouse in January, CBC News reported on November 11, 2026.

The statement of claim was filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on November 9, 2026. It names the police board, Const. Lyndon Greene and four unidentified officers. Riley and her common-law partner, Shaunakaye Tomlinson, are seeking damages for assault, battery, unlawful detention and malicious prosecution, as well as alleged breaches of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Ontario Human Rights Code. None of the allegations have been proven in court, and no statement of defence has been filed.

According to the claim, Riley was working late in a fourth-floor interview room at the courthouse on January 23, 2026, following a trial day, when an officer interrupted a Zoom meeting she was conducting for Level Justice, a national justice education charity. Riley says she identified herself as defence counsel and explained that Crown counsel had told her lawyers routinely stay late to finish work. When she asked for a supervisor, the claim says, multiple officers entered the room, turned off the lights and slammed her laptop shut.

The claim alleges officers slammed her face into a desk twice, causing her to bleed, pulled off her headscarf and dragged her out in tight handcuffs to basement cells, telling her she did not belong there and that she was being arrested for not listening. Riley was charged with trespassing. The claim notes the charge was timestamped at 5:10 p.m., 10 minutes after the courthouse closed to the public and eight minutes before her first interaction with an officer. The trespass charge was formally withdrawn this week.

The lawsuit alleges the whole interaction was tainted by racial profiling, noting Riley is a Black woman and a petite lawyer who presented no security threat, and that officers acted with malice because the evidence against her was weak, speculative, uncorroborated and unreliable. The claim says Riley suffered injuries to her spine and symptoms consistent with a traumatic brain injury or concussion, along with psychological injuries including nightmares, insomnia, anxiety and depression. It also alleges the police board failed to properly train officers on conscious and unconscious racial bias and the use of force.

Riley's lawyer, Atrisha James, called the decision to drop the charges the right one, but said her client never should have been charged in the first place. James said Riley looks forward to achieving justice, adding that no lawyer should face barriers to accessing a courthouse or carrying out professional duties because of their race.

Months after the incident, York Regional Police concluded a criminal investigation and found no reasonable grounds to lay charges against any of the officers involved. The matter was then referred to the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency. The Special Investigations Unit was notified of the incident but declined to invoke its mandate.

Durham Regional Police has not commented on the lawsuit; CBC News said it has requested comment from the service. In a statement issued January 29, 2026, DRPS said it takes the misconduct allegations extremely seriously, that Chief Moreira had asked the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency to take carriage of the matter, and that the officers involved had been reassigned to duties that do not include courthouse security.