Warning: This story contains content that may be disturbing to some. Discretion is advised.
Just minutes after she said she saw a Brockville, Ont., police officer punching a woman on the street, Cassandra Kohls posted to Facebook.
“I just witnessed an officer pull over, block traffic to approach a young woman, he asked her to pull her hand out of her pocket, when she didn’t do what he said within five seconds he smashed her head first into the ground and then proceeded to put his entire weight on top of her.”
Her post was published Tuesday at 5:20 p.m. Around 5 p.m. that same day, Melissa Ross was arrested by a Brockville police officer on Perth Street for not abiding by her bail conditions.
Kohls initially posted to Facebook that she thought the officer punched Ross twice, but said the altercation was slightly hidden by a police cruiser. She realized, after watching the video the first time, the officer raised his arm in an attempt to re-position Ross while she was on the ground.
That incident was caught on video by a friend of Ross’, and does show the officer punching her in the face while she is on the ground during an arrest.
Kohls posted to Facebook two days before the video was first published by Global News on Thursday, although Brockville police say the video was posted to Facebook Wednesday evening.
Police also say they heard rumours the arrest was captured on video by Tuesday evening, but didn’t see the clip until the following day.
“Thursday morning a chief’s complaint (was) initiated and we began a formal investigation,” Staff Sgt. Andrew Harvie said in an emailed statement. Harvie said Brockville Police Chief Scott Fraser saw the video, and asked that an official investigation into the arrest be launched.
Ross was initially charged in November 2019 for possession of cocaine and theft, and was out on bail with conditions when she was arrested Tuesday. One of those conditions was to check in with Brockville police on a regular basis. Her possession charge was dropped Friday. Ross’ lawyer says the dropped charge had nothing to do with her recent involvement with Kingston police.
Ross admitted to Global News that by Tuesday, she had already missed a couple of “sign-ins” with police. Although she said she tried to contact her lawyer Tuesday to see what her next steps were, she was arrested that evening by a male officer, who she said became aggressive with her right after she told him her lawyer was meant to get in touch with police.
“He then proceeded to push on my pressure point in my arm and tell me to put my hands behind my back. But at that time, because where he was pushing on my arm, I couldn’t put my hand behind my back. So he picked me up by my coat and body-slammed me into the ground.”
The video, obtained by Global News, does not show this interaction. By the time the video begins, Ross is on the ground, struggling with the police officer.
“Stop, I’m trying to stand up to do this,” Ross screams at the officer. She then tells him her hip hurts. He tells her she will not be standing up.
She then screams “stop,” again very loudly at the officer and her hand strikes his left arm. The officer responds by punching her in the face, and screaming “don’t hit me.”
Ross says she never tried to strike the officer.
“His fist was coming in contact with my face and he said, ‘Don’t hit me.’ I didn’t even try to hit him at all.“
In an interview Friday, Kohls told Global News she saw the incident from her parked car while she was waiting for a friend to pick up her daughter. Khols said she could tell something was going to happen as soon as the police cruiser stopped in the lane opposite to her, and from the way he approached the two people across the street.
“The way he walked up to her, I knew that he was going to do something,” Kohls said.
During the incident, Kohls says she recognized Ross, who she says is an acquaintance, but not a close one.
“It looked like he was angry,” Kohls said. “Maybe that he had dealt with her previously and she wasn’t his favorite person, because he walked up to her aggressively in the beginning.”
Khols says the officer then asked Ross to take her hands out of her pockets.
“She didn’t have time to respond before he slammed her into the ground.”
Kohls says she found the interaction shocking. She lives in the neighbourhood, and has had interactions with police before, but said she’s never seen an arrest quite like this one.
“I wasn’t expecting what I saw. Not at all,” Khols said. She was surprised the incident escalated so quickly, since she said Ross seemed to act appropriately before she was allegedly thrown to the ground.
“She didn’t even move. She didn’t try to get away or go in any direction. She just stayed put and she talked to him.”
Ross said after the video finished, a female officer showed up and arrested her. Kohls confirmed this detail.
Ross was charged with resisting arrest, something she plans on fighting, since in her opinion, she never resisted.
She says the initial alleged slam to the ground aggravated a previous injury, which made her unable to roll over as the officer asked. She also claims she could not put her hands behind her back because of the way the officer was holding her.
“He kept putting my arms weird ways. Like at one point in the video, you see my arm bend back funny. And with him doing that, I couldn’t physically even put my hands behind my back.”
Brockville police says the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) was contacted Friday but are not currently investigating. The SIU investigates incidents where death or serious injury occurs after police involvement.
An SIU spokesperson said they are currently waiting to see if any serious injuries are reported to see what their involvement will be.
Although Ross said she was bleeding and left with bruises from the officer’s punch, she says she will be returning to hospital for x-rays to see if her nose was broken following the punch.
On Friday, Harvie sent out a release naming the officer as Const. Mike Boszormeny, who he said has been temporarily re-assigned to administrative duties.
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