BC RCMP officers will not be charged in connection with the arrest that seriously injured the man

Two BC RCMP officers won’t face criminal charges for using force that left a man arrested for public intoxication with a concussion, a torn shoulder and a chunk of his hair — but they could face professional discipline.

This week, B.C.’s Independent Investigations Office released its report into the November 2021 arrest on Vancouver Island, declining to forward a report to Crown while referring the case to the RCMP, which will determine whether the officers followed the code of conduct of the force.

The man who was injured, referred to in the IIO report as the Affected Person or “the AP,” was initially stopped by police because he was seen with an open beer near the scene of a single-vehicle crash in Shawnigan Lake.

Although police determined that the AP was not the driver of the vehicle, “officers believed that the AP was too intoxicated to allow him to continue walking in the middle of a dark road late at night,” the report said, adding that the police had arrested AP. for being drunk in public and causing a nuisance.

The use of violence

When the AP arrived at the RCMP cells in Duncan, “an interaction occurred that left the AP with a concussion and a torn shoulder that required surgery,” the IIO said.

The two officers involved in the interaction, whose use of force is being investigated, are referred to in the report as SO1 and SO2.

Before placing the AP in a jail cell, the officers untied him and asked him to remove “excess layers of clothing,” which the report said the AP did without objection, based on the jail’s CCTV footage.

Then one of the officers touched the AP’s hair to determine if he had tied it up, which the report says is done by police because hair ties are routinely confiscated along with glasses or piercings before someone is put in a cell stopped.

“The AP is then seen on the video swatting SO2’s hand away. The AP said, ‘It just escalated from there,'” the report said.

“SO1 then grabbed the AP’s shoulder, and the AP then grabbed SO1’s shirt. A struggle ensued between the AP and the officers. The video shows that SO1 and SO2 attempted to control the AP by using physical force, causing him to fall to the ground. The officers then dragged the AP by his arm and her into the cell. Once in the cell, SO1 also struck the side of the AP’s body with his knee. Video shows that a piece of the AP’s hair came out during the struggle.”

A few hours later, the AP was taken to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a concussion and “multiple” tears to his right shoulder, the report said.

Watchdog’s conclusion

In this case, the IIO ruled that the two officers were justified in using force against the AP and that the use of force was reasonable and necessary under the circumstances.

“That said, the officers’ actions that day are concerning,” the IIO report said.

“They used the AP’s hair to drag him into the cell. It appeared that the officers had not attempted de-escalation strategies in their dealings with the AP.” “It also does not appear that there was sufficient communication throughout the incident, as the AP did not understand why he was initially detained or the search procedure that followed his arrest.”

The IIO was notified of the arrest by the RCMP in early 2023 after the AP filed a complaint with Mounties in 2022. The medical information received with the complaint indicated that the AP’s injuries may have reached the threshold of serious harm, prompting the IIO investigation.