A Kelowna Mountie who was the subject of public outcry following a violent wellness check has now been charged with assault.
The BC Prosecution Service announced Monday afternoon it approved an assault charge against Const. Lacey Browning of the Kelowna RCMP in connection to the high profile January 2020 wellness check of UBC Okanagan nursing student Mona Wang.
The charge was sworn Aug. 23 and Const. Browning will be in court for a first appearance Sept. 14.
The case was brought to the public’s attention after surveillance video of the incident went viral. It showed a handcuffed Wang being dragged, face down, on a carpeted hallway by a Kelowna RCMP officer before having her head stepped on.
A civil lawsuit filed against Browning, Canada’s attorney general and B.C.’s minister of public safety and solicitor general, who is responsible for the actions of the RCMP, was settled in June.
In a statement to Global News at that time, Wang said, “The settlement was a compromise, which means no one got exactly what they wanted.”
“I settled to move on with my life. Despite this, I expect the justice system to do what is right by taking steps to ensure that Lacey Browning is not allowed to continue acting as an RCMP member. She is a disgrace to the RCMP with a history of assaulting vulnerable people, and she will not stop,” she said.
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