An Edmonton man who says he was beaten up by a police officer four years ago is relieved to learn charges have now been laid, but is also frustrated by how difficult it was to get his case to this point.
“How does it take four years to do an investigation?” Justin Lafrance asked while speaking to Global News on Thursday. “It’s a very hard battle to try to take on the system yourself.
“I’m hoping by fighting through this battle and not just letting it go away that there’s some changes.”
A day earlier, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) announced Const. Alexander Doduk has been charged with assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm in connection with an encounter he had with Lafrance on the morning of Nov. 26, 2019.
Lafrance said he realizes ASIRT, Alberta’s police watchdog, has been grappling with a backlog of cases and that personnel changes may have slowed progress in his case.
However, he believes the Edmonton Police Commission (EPC) could have moved more quickly to make progress on the investigation.
When Global News asked the EPC if it believes the timeline for investigating such incidents is acceptable, Matthew Barker, the body’s executive director, said he was concerned about timelines for ASIRT investigations in general.
Barker declined to comment more specifically on the charges laid against Doduk, saying “it is important for the commission to ensure integrity of the process by reserving comment on any potential police misconduct matters before they have been adjudicated.”
On Wednesday, ASIRT issued a statement summarizing some details about its investigation that led to charges being laid against Doduk.
“(An Edmonton police) officer was driving in a marked police vehicle when he observed two men apparently involved in a dispute over a broken window on the west side of 97th Street, north of 103A Avenue,” ASIRT said. “The officer stopped his vehicle and got out to investigate the dispute. While placing the first man under arrest, the 38-year-old man intervened.
“When the officer subsequently tried to arrest the 38-year-old man for assaulting a peace officer and place him in handcuffs, a struggle ensued resulting in the officer using physical force and his police baton.
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“The 38-year-old man was subsequently transported to hospital where he was treated for a broken nose, as well as bruising to his face, ribs and left shoulder. He was also noted to have a chipped tooth.”
Lafrance said he is no longer facing charges for assaulting a police officer and believes the officer “overreacted to the whole situation” when he arrived at the scene the morning of the encounter. He said he feels the accusation he assaulted a police officer in the first place was made without merit.
Lafrance said he was trying to catch someone he suspected of breaking a window at the construction site he was working at, and ran to the police officer’s vehicle in an attempt to flag him down when he saw him.
“This one broken window has turned into a nightmare for four years,” he said, adding the incident has taken a toll on his mental health.
The charges laid against Doduk have yet to be tested in court.
When asked for a statement in response to ASIRT’s news release on Wednesday, the Edmonton Police Service said “the EPS Professional Standards Branch will commence an investigation under the Police Service Regulation (PSR) following the resolution of the court proceedings.”
“Const. Doduk is an eight-year member with the Edmonton Police Service. He remains employed and is currently on an unrelated leave.”
The EPS said it could not comment further because the matter is now before the courts.
The charges are not the first time Doduk’s actions as a police officer have come under scrutiny.
In 2022, Doduk, along with the Edmonton Police Service and another officer, were named in a lawsuit filed by the family of Steven Nguyen, a man who died after being shot multiple times by police in 2021.
The lawsuit’s statement of claim argues such force was “unreasonable.” It also says the death of Nguyen was caused “as a result of the negligence of Const. Doduk.”
Nguyen was walking in a neighbourhood near his home when the encounter occurred. He was shot while holding a cellphone that police said they believed was a gun, and that Nguyen was about to shoot.
The EPS’ statement of defence says Doduk believed the object drawn was a firearm, and yelled, “Gun! Drop it!” The statement says Nguyen rapidly shifted and rotated his body to the left, and kept pointing the object at officers.
“(Learning about the concerns raised about that shooting) just reminds me that when I did all these complaints and stuff, had somebody done something when I said to do something, that loss of life might have been prevented,” Lafrance said.
Doduk was also one of two officers who posed for a photo while taking a man into custody in 2020 and it was posted to Instagram.
The photo, which was posted to the other constable’s account, shows the officers smiling on both sides of a shirtless man in handcuffs with one of the officers placing his hand on the detained man’s shoulder. The man’s face was blacked out with marker and Global News further disguised him.
“This fine young man was so thrilled with the service we provided him, he wanted to commemorate the moment with a picture,” the Instagram post read. “Just kidding, he was so high he thought he was on Mars.”
The EPS Professional Standards Branch was asked to investigate the photo. Global News does not know what the current status of that investigation is.
Lafrance said while his encounter with police in 2019 has traumatized him, he still has respect for police officers as a whole, adding he has met a number of police officers at the gym he works out in over the years.
–With files from Mason DePatie, Global News
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