Roberto Manca sues Opp and union after 2 gun charges dismissed

Ontario Provincial Police Staff Sergeant Roberto Manca has sued the opp and his police union after a judge dismissed gun charges against him. Manca says the arrest outside his home in Barrie, Ontario, and the handling of his case left him with damage to his career and finances.

He described the arrest as “something out of a movie scene.” The lawsuit turns on his claim that the OPP’s actions and his union’s lack of support during the arrest and trial cost him stability after he had already worked in security for the Ontario premier.

Barrie arrest

The arrest happened outside Manca’s home in Barrie, putting the case in a public setting from the start. That detail sits at the center of his complaint because he says the events that followed were not limited to the criminal case itself.

Manca’s lawsuit says the OPP’s actions and the police union’s response during his arrest and subsequent trial destroyed his career and financial stability. The claim also raises the question of what support a senior officer can expect from an employer and union once a criminal case begins.

Gun charges dismissed

A judge later dismissed the gun charges against Manca, closing the criminal case but not the dispute over how the OPP and his union handled it. The dismissal left his civil lawsuit as the next step in the fight over those events.

The case now shifts from the courtroom where the charges were heard to the one where Manca is seeking to challenge the conduct of the organization he worked for and the union that represented him. For him, the point of the lawsuit is not the arrest alone, but what he says followed it.

Manca’s lawsuit

Manca previously managed security for the Ontario premier, a role that adds weight to his allegation that the arrest and trial damaged his professional standing. His complaint also puts procedural fairness and workplace support directly at issue.

That leaves the civil case focused on responsibility: what the OPP did, what the union did not do, and whether those choices caused the losses Manca says he suffered. Those are the facts he is now asking a court to sort out.