No charges will be filed against Brandon police officers in 2022 arrest: IIU

No charges will be laid against Brandon Police Service officers who arrested a man two years ago and then alleged they assaulted him, says the civilian director of the province’s police watchdog.

BPS was called to Fifth Street around 5 a.m. on Oct. 15, 2022, the Manitoba Independent Investigation Unit, which investigates all serious incidents involving police in the province, said in a news release Wednesday.

A woman called police because a man had broken into her home and threatened her with a knife, according to the statement.

When officers arrived at the scene, the man had fled the area. He was tracked to a nearby parking lot where officers found him hiding behind a shed, the release said.

The IIU said the man resisted arrest and police used force before he was taken to hospital, where he was discharged.

The final report, published on Wednesday by IIU Civil Director Roxanne Gagne, said the man contacted BPS about the incident on Feb. 21, 2023 and told them he wanted to file a complaint with the IIU and that he had written a complaint to the Brandon Police Chief.

The man alleged he was assaulted by officers while handcuffed and received 37 injuries during his arrest, “none of which appeared to be serious under the Police Services Act,” according to the report.

Police told the IIU that on February 23, 2023, the man broke into his ex-spouse’s home and called her, leaving messages threatening to kill her.

The K9 unit tracked the man to a location a short distance away and police found him hiding, the report states. He also said the man resisted arrest and force had to be used to take him into custody.

Once detained, he was found to have a knife, according to the report.

Officers also told the IIU that once at the hospital and in the presence of a nurse, the man threw himself to the ground and “hit his head against the floor and the wall.”

A man claimed to have suffered a “terrible beating”

The man told IIU that once officers found him where he had been sleeping in a nearby church, “he suffered a terrible beating that continued.”

The man said he had been sleeping outside the church because he had an anger management course on Saturday and Sunday at 9:30 a.m. that weekend.

The course was ordered by the courts and she had to take it to get her son out of CFS care, according to the report. The courses were not at the church, but they chose to sleep there because of the cameras and felt it was a safe place, according to the report.

He woke up to the sound of a dog sniffing, heard yelling and insults, and people “saying his name in a threatening manner,” according to the report.

The report said the man “declined to say why his ex-spouse” may have called police and that he could not “comment on it because it was still before court.” However, he later admitted that he was arrested for criminal trespass, possession of a weapon dangerous to the public peace and violation of an order, according to the report.

According to Gagne’s report, the man alleged that police were telling him that they had “45,000 volts” pointed at his head and that they were going to “attack the dogs.”

He said an officer “continued to hit him in the head, body and kidneys,” according to the report. The man also said he lost consciousness at one point and when he came to, the officers were still standing, restraining him.

When he looked up, an officer kicked him in the head and hit him again, the report said. The man alleged in the report that there were two rounds of beatings and he lost consciousness twice.

“He stated that the officers were threatening him and that he was terrified, so he was not going to resist arrest,” Gagne wrote in the report.

He also claimed to have suffered a number of injuries, some of which included broken ribs, that his “right temple felt like it was cracked” and that he suffered hearing loss in his right ear.

The man also told the IIU that he was bedridden for 19 days.

Civilian director says use of force was reasonable

Gagne said that although the man suffered injuries during the arrest, it is “not conclusive that excessive force was used, but it is evidence that I must consider.”

The severity of all injuries claimed by the man were not “medically substantiated” and it is unclear whether he may have contributed to his own injuries by “hitting his head on the floor while in the hospital,” according to the report.

Gagne also said officers believed the man was in possession of a knife due to threats he made and it was later confirmed that he had a box cutter. The man was also “moving around, resisting arrest and kicking offices,” according to the report.

He also failed to listen to police verbal commands on multiple occasions, according to the report.

Gagne concluded that she was satisfied with the use of force by all officers and that “there are no grounds to support any charges” against the officers.