RCMP officer convicted of pointing a firearm at a person while drinking at Bell Island house

An RCMP officer in Newfoundland has been convicted of careless use of a firearm and pointing a firearm at a person.

According to a Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court decision released Monday, Const. Michael Wheeler was charged with pulling his police firearm and placing it against the head of a woman while "at a social gathering and consuming alcohol."

The offences happened in January 2018 at the Bell Island residence of one of Wheeler's colleagues, who was at the time in a relationship with the woman, the complainant in the case.

Wheeler arrived at his colleague's house sometime after midnight wearing his RCMP uniform, reads the Supreme Court decision.

Wheeler and the woman admit they wrestled with one another while sitting on a couch in the living room. According to the Supreme Court decision, the complainant testified that while Wheeler's colleague was out of the room, Wheeler "placed his firearm against her face and then stood up and pointed it at her."

Wheeler and his colleague denied the events happened but the court didn't believe them, in part due to Facebook messages sent between Wheeler and the woman in the hours and days after the incident.

He was previously arrested in January 2021 for two firearm crimes stemming from the 2018 incident.

He was suspended from the force, the RCMP said in a media release at the time, and was arrested following an investigation overseen by the province's serious-incident response team.

Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Click here to visit our landing page.