Fire captain told non-binary rookie not to report alleged assault, court hears

A non-binary Ottawa firefighter told court Thursday that their captain advised them against reporting an alleged assault by a crewmate because it would be blown out of proportion and could jeopardize the complainant's career.

Ash Weaver was testifying for the second day at the criminal trial of Capt. Greg Wright and former firefighter Eric Einagel.

Einagel, 38, is charged with choking, assault causing bodily harm and harassment by threatening conduct in relation to the incident that occurred Sept. 14, 2022, at Fire Station 47 on Greenbank Road.

He was fired following an internal investigation.

Wright, a captain at the same station, is charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm and threatening to discipline the complainant to prevent them from reporting the incident.

He was suspended without pay for three days following the same investigation.

The judge-alone trial began Monday. While most of the testimony this week has focused on Einagel's role in the incident, Wright's actions afterward came under closer scrutiny Thursday during questioning from Crown lawyer Siobhain Wetscher.

Ottawa firefighter Ash Weaver, right, walks with Sgt. Ali Toghrol of the Ottawa Police Service's hate and bias crime unit near the Ottawa Courthouse on May 8, 2024. (Patrick Louiseize/CBC)

Weaver told 'you're fine'

Weaver testified that when they fled to the truck bay following the alleged assault at the fire station's kitchen sink, they were in significant pain and fearing for their life.

Wright eventually came out to check on them, Weaver said.

"When I saw him I said I was hurt, I'm in pain, can I go to the hospital?" Weaver told the court. "He said, 'You're breathing, you can move, you're fine.'"

The crew was due to drive to the nearby neighbourhood to knock on doors as part of a fire safety outreach program, and Weaver said Wright encouraged them to forget about what had happened in the kitchen.

"He told me that the best thing for my career right now was to get on the trucks," Weaver testified, adding that they found his response confusing.

"I had just been assaulted and I could feel all the pain from it and I didn't feel fine."

Weaver reluctantly boarded the pump truck with Einagel at the wheel, Wright in the passenger seat and another firefighter in the back seat.

When they arrived at their destination, however, Weaver told Wright they were too upset to take part in the door-knocking and remained in the truck.

Weaver said shortly after, Wright brought a family over to the truck for a tour. Unable to face the public, Weaver apologized and slipped out the opposite door to hide in the nearby ladder truck while Wright and Einagel gave tours of the pump truck.

Ottawa police investigators took this photo of the supply closet at Station 47 where Weaver said Wright advised them not to report the alleged assault that had occurred earlier that evening. (Ottawa Police Service)

Told to keep it quiet

Back at the station, Weaver said Wright told them they needed to calm down. Weaver said they went into a supply closet under a flight of stairs and sat down on a rolling chair.

Wright soon followed, Weaver said.

"Capt. Wright came into the room, and I remember him shutting the door and telling me how I need to calm down and then shutting the lights out," Weaver testified. "I told the captain that Eric wants to kill me for who I am, I told the captain how I was in pain, how I want to go to the hospital."

Weaver said Wright seemed more concerned about keeping the incident under wraps.

"The captain was saying this is not going to be reported, this is going to stay in station," Weaver said.

Wright was worried the fire service's human resources department would "blow it out of proportion," Weaver testified, and that he "doesn't want that following me around my career."

"We don't report on our brothers and sisters. We can work this out in the crew," Weaver recalled Wright saying.

The alleged violence happened Sept. 14, 2022, at Station 47 on Greenbank Road near Cambrian Road in Barrhaven. (Michel Aspirot/CBC)

'I'm not the same person'

Wright agreed to move Weaver from the pump crew to the ladder truck crew so they would no longer have to ride with Einagel, but Weaver never returned to Station 47 after that shift.

Weaver said they spent most of the following day driving aimlessly around the city. Asked by Wetscher what was going through their mind as they drove, Weaver replied: "I wanted to die."

The next day, a Saturday, Weaver reported the alleged assault to Ottawa Fire Services safety officer Cheryl Hunt, and the following week they went to Ottawa police to file a report.

Weaver said they also visited their doctor, physiotherapist, chiropractor, dentist, psychotherapist and psychologist. They said they continue to deal with PTSD as a result of the experience, and had to give primary care of their child over to their ex-partner.

"I'm not the same person. I can't sleep alone at night. I had to move out of the city to not be so scared for my life. For a job I wanted so badly, I can't even imagine going back to it now," they testified, pausing frequently to regain control of their emotions.

Wright's defence lawyer Joshua Clarke has not yet cross-examined Weaver.

'The stuff of fire halls'

During cross-examination Thursday afternoon, Einagel's defence lawyer Dominic Lamb pointed to inconsistencies between Weaver's statements to Deputy Chief David Matschke, who conducted the internal investigation that concluded Einagel had committed an act of workplace violence, and some of Weaver's earlier testimony.

Lamb also asserted that Weaver, though shorter than the male firefighters at Station 47, would regularly engage in what Lamb referred to as "the stuff of fire halls — pushing and shoving, bodychecking and tackling."

Lamb said on at least one occasion in August 2022, Weaver, who played Australian rules football for Team Canada, tackled Einagel in front of the same kitchen sink for the right to do the dishes — a tradition among junior firefighters who would compete to perform menial tasks around the station to demonstrate their initiative.

"Eric was really physical, and I know that we pushed and shoved each other," Weaver acknowledged, but insisted they couldn't recall that particular incident.

Asked why the incident on Sept. 14, 2022, was any different, Weaver replied: "I felt like it was me fighting for my life, and [he was] trying to kill me."

Lamb's cross-examination is due to resume Monday. The trial is scheduled for two more weeks.