Edmonton police officer unlawfully exercised authority during arrest: disciplinary hearing
Police Const. Adam Woodburn unlawfully exercised his authority and engaged in discreditable conduct when he arrested an Edmonton lawyer more than five years ago, a police disciplinary hearing has found.
Retired Court of Queen's Bench justice Melvyn Binder, the presiding officer at the disciplinary hearing, ruled that Woodburn arrested criminal lawyer Chady Moustarah for personal motives because the two had clashed in the past.
According to the 49-page ruling, Moustarah spent the evening of Apr. 9, 2011, at two restaurants with a pair of fellow lawyers. He had dinner and consumed part of a glass of wine and less than three ounces of vodka during the evening.
Moustarah and his friends left the Euro Restaurant and Pub at 95th Street and 107th Avenue at around 12:30 a.m. and headed to the Suede Lounge on Jasper Avenue and 118th Street.
A fellow police officer, who was off duty at the time, was eating with Moustarah and his friends at the Euro. When Moustarah left the Euro, the other officer sent Woodburn a text message.
"So I texted Adam and said they were leaving," Sgt. Dana Donald testified, "and Mr. Moustarah was driving in his large series white BMW, and if he was interested in an impaired."
'I asked him why, for what?'
Woodburn drove to the Suede Lounge. The constable was dressed in plain clothes and arrived in an unmarked police vehicle; he'd been assigned to a covert drug team formed under Alberta's Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team.
Outside the Suede Lounge, Woodburn walked up to Moustarah's BMW and asked to talk to him, the lawyer testified.
"I asked him why, for what?" Moustarah said in his testimony. "And I'll be honest, I was a little scared. But he wouldn't tell me, he wouldn't tell me what it's about."
Woodburn did not identify himself, a witness testified, and did not produce a police badge.
The officer arrested Moustarah for impaired driving, and drove him to the west division police station.
"I seriously almost had a breakdown inside," Moustarah said in his testimony.
"I thought, now great, I'm going to be handcuffed in front of clients, in front of people, in front of family. For a vendetta that this guy has against me."
Woodburn testified he did not carry a roadside breathalyzer device with him but said he didn't need one.
"Because my grounds were that he was impaired. I didn't have suspicion. I was well past suspicion."
Woodburn joined the police department in 1997. He testified that during one three-year period he chalked up the most arrests of any officer in Edmonton.
"I'm a police officer," he said during his testimony. "I mean, I'm back in patrol because that's what I love doing.
"I truly enjoy arresting people. So that's what I do. I'm good at it. I've arrested 1,000 impaireds."
The lawyer was never given a breathalyzer test. Woodburn said he issued Moustarah a 24-hour suspension and released him.
Moustarah and the group he was with that evening filed complaints against Woodburn.
The two had a history
Binder ruled the Woodburn had no grounds to arrest the lawyer.
The problems between Moustarah and Woodburn date back several years, according to testimony at the hearing.
In 2008, Woodburn charged Moustarah with obstruction of justice, but those charges were eventually stayed.
The pair also got in an argument in open court, during which Woodburn called Moustarah a liar and the judge called for an adjournment.
Binder said in this case Woodburn and Moustarah were both professionals serving the criminal justice system.
"Each has a professional duty to put aside and not allow personal feelings to taint their actions and judgement. In my opinion, each failed to do so."
A penalty hearing for Woodburn has not be scheduled.
