Assault charge against Cambridge man with autism withdrawn, family seeks accountability

An assault charge against a Cambridge man with autism has been withdrawn. CTV’s Krista Simpson explains what the ordeal has meant for the family.

An assault charge, laid against a Cambridge man with autism, has now been withdrawn in court.

Soren Martin’s family says they are pleased with the outcome, but still have unanswered questions, including why the charge was laid in the first place.

Soren was walking to catch the bus that takes him to work on the morning of September 18, 2024. He says he accidentally bumped into a jogger while walking too fast along Jamieson Parkway.

Waterloo Regional Police, after speaking with the female victim and a witness, described what happened as a “body-check” that knocked the jogger to the ground. Soren then ran to his bus stop and continued on his way to work.

Documents filed as part of court disclosure show that the passerby who witnessed the incident followed the bus and contacted police. Officers arrested Soren at the Cambridge Centre bus station a short time later.

He was taken to hospital and ultimately charged with assault.

“It was very, very difficult for us as a family,” Soren’s father, Glaspa Martin, told CTV News.

Glaspa says Soren, who is 48, has autism, has never been violent and was likely focused on getting to work that day.

Glaspa says he was called to the hospital more than an hour after the incident happened and arrived to find Soren still in handcuffs. He says from the beginning Soren was adamant what happened with the jogger was an accident.

Soren told CTV News at the time he had been “walking too fast.”

Glaspa says at the hospital one of the officers even told them that the assault charge would likely be thrown out of court.

“Why then charge him in the first place? It just did not make any sense,” Glaspa says.

At a court appearance in February 2025, the charge was withdrawn. In court, the crown cited a lack of public interest as the reason. No further details were given and the office of the crown declined to provide any additional comment.

Criminal lawyer Malcolm McRae, who represented Soren in this case, says it was the best possible outcome given the situation.

“I can’t speak for the crown, but certainly we went to them and provided Mr. Martin’s version of what happened that day and also some background documents which outlined who Mr. Martin was and where he was from,” McRae says. “And I think when the crown had an opportunity to review all that information, they were satisfied that he wasn’t someone who needed to be prosecuted.”

McRae says it is unfortunate police decided to lay the charge even after spending time with Soren and speaking with his father.

“It’s not surprising that the police receive a call and are told that something violent occurred and that they’d make a decision to investigate and arrest the person they believe responsible for that violent act. What I think is too bad, though, is that once they received all the other information that they decided to pursue the charge.”

In a statement, Cherri Greeno, the Director of Corporate Affairs for Waterloo Regional Police says, “Based on the evidence gathered through a thorough investigation, including statements obtained by the victim and an independent witness, our officers laid an appropriate charge of assault.“Once police have laid a criminal charge, it is then the role of the Crown attorney to determine a resolution.”

Glaspa is pleased the charge has been withdrawn, but says the whole ordeal has been difficult, noting Soren was fingerprinted as part of the process and had to go to court.

“There were sleepless nights, not to mention the trauma that Soren went through,” he says.

Glapa still has questions about how the situation was handled by both police and the hospital. He says now that the charge has been withdrawn, he will be pursuing those answers, though he has yet to decide an exact course of action.

“We’re not here to look for some kind of monetary reward. That’s not the point,” he says. “What we’re looking for is for someone like Soren won’t have to go through this drama or ordeal again in his life.”

Glaspa says that there needs to be accountability for what happened, and that’s part of the reason why he has spoken out about his son’s situation.