Case of Calgary police officer convicted of assault ‘treading in Jordan territory’

The case of a Calgary police officer convicted of assault has been ordered to go ahead without a requested mental health assessment to avoid risking a stay of proceedings.

Const. Alex Dunn was charged with assault causing bodily harm in May 2019, stemming from an on-duty incident that happened in 2017.

Provincial Court Judge Michelle Christopher convicted Dunn in December on the charge, but so far he has not been sentenced.

In court Tuesday, prosecutor Ryan Pollard noted that the delays have the case “treading in Jordan territory.”

The Supreme Court of Canada outlines a specific timeline that trials must be heard by. For the Provincial Court of Alberta, the Supreme Court establishes that must be heard within 18 months of charges being laid. It’s now been 25 months since Dunn was charged with an assault causing bodily harm to Dalia Kafi.

Video of the Dec. 13, 2017 arrest shows Dunn escorting a woman, Dalia Kafi, into the arrest processing unit to have her picture taken.

Kafi is seen standing still against a wall with her hands handcuffed behind her back when Dunn attempts to remove a scarf from her head, at which time she pulls away.

Dunn continues trying to pull the scarf off Kafi’s head as she struggles to stop him.

Eventually, Dunn is seen throwing the handcuffed woman face-first to the ground.

Later, blood can be seen on the ground where her face hit the floor.

6:04 Raw video shows altercation between Calgary officer and woman under arrest

Pollard submitted as part of his sentence that Dunn be prohibited from owning a firearm. Defence lawyer Cory Wilson submitted that hunting was one of the few social activities that Dunn enjoyed and had asked that the prohibition from owning weapons not be considered when sentencing.

As a result, the judge had asked that Dunn undergo a mental health exam, which was not completed.

The prosecution said that it was asked for transcripts in order to complete the assessment, which Pollard said the court had not submitted.

Christopher said that she wanted the mental health assessment done.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to give someone who is depressed and whose life has been ruined by a court proceedings a gun,” she said Tuesday.

At sentencing submissions, the prosecution argued Dunn should be incarcerated, while the defence said a conditional sentence order was an appropriate sentence.

Because of the delay, it was decided Tuesday that Christopher will hand down a sentence without the mental health assessment.

Christopher said that without the assessment, “it doesn’t give me the best information to weigh the submissions, which are far apart.”

A sentence was tentatively scheduled for June 29.