A B.C. court judge has acquitted three Vancouver police officers, one of whom is now retired, of assault in a May 2017 arrest that left the suspect with four broken ribs and a collapsed lung.
Constables Brandon Blue and Beau Spencer, as well as the now-retired Const. Gregory Jackson were charged in the aftermath of arresting David Cowie, alleged to have stolen a bicycle from a parkade and fled the scene.
Security footage shows Const. Josh Wong — who was not charged — tackling Cowie to the ground at the Commercial-Broadway SkyTrain station on May 24, 2017, and making an urgent call for help.
Blue, Spencer and Jackson then rushed in and grappled with him on the ground, the tape shows. The suspect did not appear to be under control by the time they arrived, Judge Jay Solomon said at B.C. Provincial Court in Vancouver on Friday.
Solomon said the suspect was “actively resisting arrest,” and police protocol is to get a suspect under control before handcuffs are applied, lest the handcuffs be obtained by the suspect and used as a weapon.
“There is no doubt that the suspect was struck several times by the accused with punches and knee strikes,” Solomon said, reading his decision aloud in court.
“I accept the evidence of each accused that their use of force was consistent with their training to assist Const. Wong in arresting the suspect.”
The Crown failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the trio’s use of force was “unreasonable, disproportionate or unnecessary” in the circumstances, Solomon said, noting the strikes delivered were not “punitive,” but meant to control the suspect.
“I accept their evidence that they did not intend to cause any serious bodily harm to the suspect,” Solomon said.
“Although Const. Wong did not give evidence on this trial, the video discloses a dynamic situation in which a suspect is actively resisting arrest by fleeing on a bicycle and exhibiting assaultive behaviour by discarding the bicycle in the path of a pursuing officer.”
The Crown had alleged that the officers used excessive force on Cowie, given the size difference between him and the officers, the number of officers, and what it claimed was a lack of assessments and re-assessments made during the arrest process.
Solomon said it was “certainly possible that a lesser amount of force could have achieved the desired result of securing the suspect in handcuffs, however, that is not the applicable legal standard.”
The Crown had argued Spencer punched and kneed Cowie six times in six seconds. Spencer has maintained he was able to determine during that time that the suspect was not complying.
Blue previously testified that Cowie was actively resisting arrest and fighting and that his concern was that the suspect could access a weapon.
Jackson testified that he made no notes or entries in the police database regarding the incident because it was not a requirement.
In closing arguments last month, the Crown said security video of the arrest plainly shows the officers used excessive force.
Prosecutors said Cowie was subdued after Blue’s initial knee strike, and the court should not accept the officers’ suggestion that Cowie was resisting. They further asserted that Blue’s initial knee strike to Cowie’s chest was an intentional application of force that risked causing the suspect grievous bodily harm.
“Spencer’s use of force was indiscriminate and his reported resistance mounted by Mr. Cowie did not justify breaking his ribs either by Const. Spencer or by Const. Blue,” added prosecutor Peter Campbell.
“The force used by Const. Spencer was an order of magnitude greater than the force used by his colleagues and co-accused and was likely the cause of grievous bodily harm.”
Solomon rejected those arguments.
Defence counsel Claire Hatcher had argued Spencer’s use of force was appropriate under the circumstances, describing it as “limited and restrained and purposive to a specific and important priority, which was to get those limbs under control.”
“He did not act out of emotion, he was not trying to punish Mr. Cowie … His actions were not only necessary, proportionate and reasonable but they were laudable.”
In April, Spencer and Wong both testified at a coroner’s inquest about their involvement in the 2015 arrest of Myles Gray.
Gray died following an interaction with several officers that left him with injuries including a fractured eye socket, crushed voice box and ruptured testicle. Police testified they felt their lives were on the line.
While the inquest ruled the death a homicide, no charges were laid against any officers. Several officers still face a disciplinary proceeding by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner in that case.
— with files from Rumina Daya and Simon Little
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