Suspended Ottawa police officer Goran Beric loses appeal of order to resign

A 2024 file photo of Goran Beric outside the Ottawa courthouse. Photo by Tony Caldwell /Postmedia

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Const. Goran Beric was ordered to resign within seven days or be fired from the Ottawa Police Service last week after losing his appeal of a police disciplinary decision a year ago.

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Beric was found guilty of assault and assault with a weapon after striking a man with a police-issued baton and stepping on the man’s neck for two minutes in August 2021. The victim of the assault was in the midst of a mental-health breakdown when police found him bleeding profusely in the bathroom of an Ottawa Community Housing complex on Bronson Avenue.

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Beric was convicted of the criminal offences in 2023 following a trial as Ontario Court Justice Janet O’Brien found his use of force went beyond the lawful range of reasonable and necessary.

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Beric was sentenced to 30 months of probation and 200 hours of community service after being granted a suspended sentence that spared the officer jail time.

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Beric later pleaded guilty before an Ottawa police disciplinary panel to five counts of misconduct, three counts of discreditable conduct and two counts of insubordination.

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Elbers wrote in a decision dated May 28, 2025, that Beric abused his authority as a police officer and that his actions indicated “a lack of moral and judgmental qualities required for a police officer.”

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Beric appealed that decision, and, though he did not dispute the misconduct, sought an order reducing his penalty to demotion rather than dismissal.

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The decision to fire Beric was “stayed” and he remained suspended with pay while awaiting the appeal decision.

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Beric made $131,149.79 in 2025, according to the database, representing an increase of 9.8 per cent from his 2024 compensation.

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The Ontario Police Arbitration and Adjudication Commission released a three-member panel’s ruling on May 8 and upheld the previous decision to dismiss Beric, calling the penalty “reasonable.”

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“The misconduct was serious,” the panel wrote. “Throughout the reasons (Elbers) fairly highlighted the seriousness of the misconduct, which involved the assault of a vulnerable person, breach of public confidence and an abuse of police authority.”

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Elbers “properly relied” on specific findings from Beric’s criminal trial, where the judge found his actions constituted “callous disregard” for the victim. It was further aggravating that Beric authored a false or misleading report of the incident that exaggerated the victim’s aggressiveness and “omitted mention of striking him with a baton and standing on his neck.”

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The panel ruled that Elbers’ decision fell “within a range of possible acceptable outcomes” and that he made “no error” in principle.

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“Our role is not to reweigh the evidence or substitute our own view of an appropriate remedy,” the panel wrote. “We see no basis to interfere with his decision.”

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