The province’s Special Investigations Unit has charged an Ottawa police sergeant with sexual assault.

The watchdog announced Friday that it had grounds to believe Sgt. Aasim Ansari sexually assaulted a woman while on duty and committed breach of trust by a public officer.

The allegations date back to October 2017. Ansari, a west division patrol officer, responded to a 911 call to Larga Baffin on Richmond Road, a residence for people from the Baffin Region and Nunavut who are in Ottawa for medical treatment. The SIU alleges that during the call Ansari sexually assaulted a woman. The woman was not arrested during the call and was not taken into police custody.