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“To protect the privacy of the victim(s), no further details regarding the incident or the charges will be released by the SSMPS,” the police said.

Ford bristled when asked by reporters in Russell, Ont., about the incident.

“Chris will be no longer sitting with our caucus and … you can ask Chris Scott the reason why. I would go to the Sault police,” the premier told reporters there.

“I was informed literally in the parking lot as we were going through here. Go to the Sault Ste. Marie Police. I don’t want to interfere in a police investigation,” he said.

Sources, speaking confidentially in order to discuss a police probe, say Scott, a married father of two young children, was allegedly in a dispute with a woman.

Tory insiders expressed shock at the news.

“He is always talking about his kids and his family,” said one shaken PC colleague.

A former top aide to Ford, Scott was elected Feb. 27 in Sault Ste. Marie, defeating a New Democratic challenger by just 114 votes.

“MPP Chris Scott is no longer a member of the PC caucus,” Ford’s spokesperson Grace Lee said Monday in a terse statement.

Scott was a hand-picked Tory candidate, having served as a special adviser to Ford’s chief of staff for almost two years.

The long-time party activist has held senior roles in the PC government since 2019.

He was also chief of staff to the associate minister of housing, deputy chief of staff to the minister of the environment as well as chief of staff to the minister of government and consumer services and deputy chief of staff in the ministry of colleges and universities.

His departure changes little in the overall standings in the legislature. There are now 79 PC MPPs, including Speaker Donna Skelly, who does not caucus with the government, 27 New Democrats, 14 Liberals, two Greens and two Independents.