Cop Threatened to Kill His Tenant and Sell Their Child Over Rent Dispute

Ottawa police Const. Nermin Mesic pleaded guilty to disciplinary charges against him for threatening to kill his former tenant, sell the man’s child and “spill blood.” QMI AGENCY

An Ottawa police officer who was suspended with pay for four-and-a-half years has pleaded guilty to disciplinary charges against him for threatening to kill his former tenant, sell the man’s child and “spill blood.”

Const. Nermin Mesic pleaded guilty to two counts of discreditable conduct under the Police Services Act on Monday.

The years-long suspension began with a dispute with a tenant in which Mesic ordered the man into his vehicle and then drove around threatening to bury him and feed him to the fish.

In February 2016, Mesic’s tenant contacted Gatineau police and reported being threatened by his landlord, according to an agreed statement of facts read out Monday.

The tenant told police that Mesic had contacted him to arrange paying his late rent. The two men met at a Tim Hortons parking lot in Gatineau. Mesic, who was off duty, pulled up and told the tenant to get into his vehicle. The tenant did so, but also began a voice recording on his cell phone. He recorded the entire exchange.

“Throughout the drive, Mesic was verbally aggressive towards (the tenant). He yelled at (the tenant) and demanded that he start calling people in order to get the rent money that was owed to him. Mesic ordered (the tenant) to have the money within an hour … threatened (the tenant’s) life and told him to sell his kid or make his wife ‘do something’ for the money,” according to the statement of facts.

The recording captured Mesic asking the tenant if he knows that “people break legs” for money and what a “desperate man” who is depending on that rent to pay his mortgage and provide for his kids is capable of.

“I don’t care. I don’t care. Sell your kid. I don’t give a sh-t. Make your wife do something,” Mesic said. “I guarantee you I’m going to spill blood.”

Mesic then drove to a dead-end street and ordered the man out of the vehicle.

“People for money, they kill right?” Mesic asked.

Mesic ordered the man back into the vehicle and began driving again. He also resumed the threats: “You know I’m going to come after you. I’m going to find out where you live, I’m going to find out how you live and I’m going to — I’m going to bury you. I’m going to feed you to the fish. OK. With a big brick around your neck. Do you understand that?”

Mesic also threatened to act if the tenant told anybody about his behaviour.

“I will f—ing take your kid and I will sell it. I don’t give a f—,” Mesic said. “There are two ways of dealing with it: Whether legit or with a paper or with force. OK and I’ve done both, and I’m not going to f— around with you. I’ve tried being nice with you.”

Mesic gave the tenant until noon the next day to pay him, then dropped him off at a church parking lot.

The tenant, “fearful for his safety and well-being,” went to police with the recording.

The next day, Mesic told the tenant he shouldn’t feel safe and threatened to hang him in a phone call that was also recorded.

“I’m going to walk in there and I’m going to hang you.”

The tenant, again, contacted police and turned over the recording.

Gatineau police charged Mesic on Feb. 7, 2016 with uttering threats, assault, forcible confinement and intimidation.

Mesic was suspended as an Ottawa police officer the next day.

Three years later, in February 2019, Mesic pleaded guilty to uttering threats and was given an absolute discharge — a sentence that spared him a criminal record.

A separate Ottawa police internal disciplinary investigation found that Mesic did threaten the tenant and drove him to a dead end. The officer said “he was exhausted from working nights and wanted (the tenant) to know that he was serious about paying the arrears of rent.”

Mesic told Ottawa police professional standards investigators that he “lost control” and “that he is well-known for saying ‘stupid sh–‘ that he should not say.”

The officer admitted to police that his original plan was to take items of value from his tenant and hold them ransom until he was paid, but then abandoned that plan out of fear the tenant would call police.

The tenant has since been evicted.

Mesic has been an Ottawa police officer since December 2005. He was previously convicted of discreditable conduct and insubordination in 2009 for slapping a youth twice across the face during questioning, kicking him, grabbing his throat and forcing him to the ground.

Mesic’s suspension was lifted at the end of July 2020.

No disciplinary sentence has yet been rendered.