WINGHAM – On March 11 Huron County Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) reported an arrest was made in connection with an alleged assault on Feb. 17 on Frances Street in Wingham.
OPP state in a press release that, on March 4, George Mills of Central Huron, age 69, was arrested and charged with assault causing bodily harm.
Police say that, on Feb. 17, OPP responded after being contacted about an assault in Wingham. OPP were dispatched just before 7 p.m. The incident resulted in one person being transported to a local hospital with injuries. Mills was identified and arrested afterwards and processed at the Huron OPP detachment located in Central Huron. He was held for a bail hearing and released from custody with a court appearance at the Ontario Court of Justice in Goderich on April 13.
The above incident coincides with the timing and details provided by witnesses and the Township of North Huron regarding an altercation after the Feb. 17 North Huron Council meeting, and resulted in Deputy Reeve Kevin Falconer being injured and treated at hospital. Video of the altercation was posted online at the Facebook page for Buck and Jo’s restaurant in Wingham. Stephen Hill, the owner of the restaurant, recently confirmed with Midwestern Newspapers that the video was his.
The arrest also shares characteristics with a recent announcement by the Ontario Special Investigations Unit (SIU).
On March 9, Kristy Denette, spokesperson for the SIU, told Midwestern Newspapers that a 69-year-old man suffered a serious, but non-life-threatening injury while in the custody of Huron County OPP on March 4.
“Preliminary information suggests officers arrested the man at about 2:30 p.m. in relation to an assault investigation,” Denette said. “He was taken to the detachment and while the man was being escorted to his cell, an altercation occurred between the man and officers. He was lodged in a cell before [emergency services] took the man to hospital. He was treated for a serious injury.”
Neither SIU nor Huron OPP have officially confirmed a connection between the March 4 arrest of Mills and the incident under investigation by the SIU.
