Crown challenging acquittal of former Regina police officer Robert Power
The Crown is asking Saskatchewan's highest court to take another look at the case of a former Regina police officer who was accused of assaulting a man in 2012.
Earlier this week, the office of the attorney general said it wanted to appeal Robert Power's acquittal, on grounds that the Queen's Bench judge who heard the case made several errors in law.
Power had originally been convicted of assault causing bodily harm and given a conditional discharge, but he appealed and Justice Richard Elson acquitted him.
Court heard that in March 2012, Power got into an altercation with an intoxicated man when he tried to get the man to go to Regina's brief detox unit.
Power, 39 and with six years of police experience at the time of the incident, said the man challenged him to a fight.
When the 44-year-old man approached Power with his right hand clenched in a fist, Power kicked him in the stomach.
The man fell, hit his head on the concrete, started to bleed profusely, and had to go to hospital for treatment. He recovered.
The Crown argued that was excessive use of force, but the defence said it was justified under the circumstances. Court heard the man was both HIV positive and hepatitis-C positive.
Power lost his job, according to court documents.
A date for the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal to hear the case hasn't been set yet.
