'Extremely excessive' force used by 3 Calgary cops on trial for assault, says fellow officer
Clayton Prince was lying across the backseat of a Calgary police truck, handcuffed, bloodied, and suffering from broken ribs and a collapsed lung. That's when Const. James Othen opened the back door, took out a long silver key and dug it into the suspect's neck while twisting it, according to an officer who witnessed the incident.
"It was extremely excessive," said Const. Ryan MacPherson, who testified he was so unsettled by what he had witnessed, he and his partner then drove away from the scene.
MacPherson is testifying for the prosecution at the trial of Othen, Kevin Humfrey and Mike Sandalack.
The three officers are each charged with assault causing bodily harm for their roles in the July 30, 2016 arrest during which the prosecution has said Prince was the victim of "tremendous violence."
On Tuesday, provincial court Judge Margaret Keelaghan released a video depicting part of the arrest, during which officers, one of whom has been identified as Othen, can be seen punching Prince before the recording is halted when someone turns off the emergency lights.
Prince had initially run from police during a traffic stop but surrendered on the ground with his hands behind his head once confronted by Const. Chris Harris's service gun.
Once Prince was on the ground, Othen and another officer jumped on his back, said MacPherson, who also testified he could hear the officers landing numerous punches and knee strikes.
Strikes continued after Prince cuffed
At one point during the arrest, MacPherson said "everybody stopped, it almost went dead quiet, and Mr. Prince stopped moving."
Then he says someone said "OK" and the knee strikes resumed. It was Sandalack who was delivering the blows even after Prince was handcuffed, said MacPherson.
"Did Mr. Prince do anything to warrant resuming the knee strikes?" asked prosecutor Jim Stewart.
"No," said MacPherson, who was initially holding Prince's legs but let go and backed away.
Prince was complying, not trying to evade arrest, when the officers began to strike him, said MacPherson, who is the second officer to testify to that effect.
"I realized I was no longer needed because he was no longer trying to evade arrest," said the witness.
The whole time, Prince was gasping and moaning in pain, according to the witness.
Defence lawyers Alain Hepner, Paul Brunnen and David Butcher cross-examined McPherson and called into question his consistency on some points. In particular, Hepner pointed out McPherson initially told investigators he was 80 per cent sure Othen had dug the key into the right right side of Prince's neck, behind his ear but, in fact it was the left side.
Brunnen suggested that since McPherson had been wrong on a couple of points in his evidence, perhaps he was also mistaken that it was Sandalack delivering the knee strikes to Prince.
Dash-cam video contradicts officers
Othen also faces charges of mischief and assault with a weapon, while Humfrey is also charged with two counts of public mischief.
The mischief charges relate to allegations the two officers lied in their accounts of how the arrest went down. Both told Const. Derrick Matkar that Prince refused to comply with demands to get on the ground and had to be tackled. They also said he wouldn't give them his hands to be cuffed.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) launched an investigation after video from a one of the responding officers' dash-cams surfaced contradicting the officers' accounts of the incident. The video was cut off in the middle of the incident when someone turned the emergency lights off.
Othen and Humphrey are suspended without pay while Sandalack is on administrative duties.
The trial was supposed to wrap up on Friday, but lawyers have indicated they will have to book a continuation date. The defence is expected to call witnesses.
