Almost six months after he was arrested, the Crown has withdrawn charges against Cambridge deputy fire chief Brad Churchill.
Waterloo regional police charged Churchill, 48, with sexual assault and sexual assault with a weapon May 9 for crimes alleged to have taken place between August 2009 and September 2009.
Churchill had been on administrative leave from the Cambridge Fire Department since then as his case made its way through the court.
A spokesperson from the city was not immediately available to say if Churchill would resume active duty. The city retained legal firm Hicks-Morley and the communications firm Gordon Strategy in the wake of Churchill's arrest last May.
After the Crown and Churchill's lawyers appeared in a Kitchener courtoom Thursday, the Ministry of the Attorney General's office confirmed late Friday the charges have been withdrawn against the long-time firefighter.
"In general, the Crown has an ongoing obligation to assess the strength of the case throughout the proceedings," media spokesperson for the ministry Maher Abdurahman wrote in an email.
"If the Crown determines at any time that there is no longer a reasonable prospect of conviction, or that it is not in the public interest to proceed, the Crown is duty bound to withdraw the charges. In doing so, the Crown considers a number of factors and the circumstances specific to each charge in any particular matter."
