Editor’s note: Alberta Justice said Friday there was no longer an assault charge against Const. Kevin Humfrey. The Crown prosecutor has since informed Global News that Alberta Justice had an error in its system and there have been no changes to charges against any of the accused officers. Global News has updated the story to reflect the new information.
A trial began Monday for three Calgary police officers who were charged with assault after the July 2016 arrest of a man. It’s alleged the officers caused injuries including broken ribs, a collapsed lung, cuts to the man’s face and “significant bruising.”
Constables Mike Sandalack, Kevin Humfrey and James Othen each face a charge of assault causing bodily harm in connection with the arrest of Clayton Prince, who had been handcuffed at the time of the alleged assault on July 30. Othen also faces a charge of assault with a weapon.
Humfrey and Othen also face charges of public mischief.
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The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) investigation alleges the officers lied, saying the 34-year-old man resisted an officer when evidence suggests he did not.
Prince testified Monday morning. All three officers were present in court, along with ASIRT and a Crown prosecutor brought in from Edmonton.
Prince told court he ran from police during a traffic stop on Macleod Trail because he didn’t have a valid driver’s licence and was carrying a small amount of marijuana. He admitted he had smoked marijuana and snorted cocaine with friends prior to the incident.
Watch below from Oct. 5, 2016: ASIRT considers the allegation that officers lied to be the worst aspect
He said a police officer caught up to him and pointed his gun, telling him to get to the ground.
Prince testified he was kneed by at least one officer and punched by possibly several officers while lying on the ground. He claimed he was not resisting.
“They beat the sh-t out of me,” he told court.
While he was handcuffed, Prince said an officer pushed his head into a police vehicle door, cutting his lip. He said he spent five days in hospital being treated for his injuries.
ASIRT began investigating the case after the discovery of police dashcam video of the incident. ASIRT declined to release the video at the time.
When the charges came to light, Calgary Police Chief Roger Chaffin vowed to investigate and deal with the situation “in the most serious of fashions.”
“It’s not representative of the kind of policing we’d expect in the city and it raised an enormous amount of questions about what happened there,” Chaffin said last Oct. 5, after explaining he had seen the video.
Watch below from Oct. 5, 2016: Chief Roger Chaffin says as soon as police saw the dashcam video, it went to ASIRT
“Calgarians can be assured they won’t be seeing these officers while this process is going on,” he said at the time. “That’s not to convict them, but that’s to say I see enough in this that I don’t believe that would be appropriate to have them out there.”
Prince had been charged with one count of resisting Const. Othen in the lawful execution of his duty and one count of possession of a small amount of marijuana at the time. The Crown stayed those charges Aug. 29.
With files from Global’s Gary Bobrovitz
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