RCMP Watch

Beverley Ware, Nova Scotia News

Clifford Gregory Lantz scrunched up his eyes, looked at his lawyer and mouthed the word “What!” — clearly surprised to have been convicted Tuesday of assaulting a Lunenburg County Mountie.

Cpl. Darren Galley had punched, kicked and pepper-sprayed the Mahone Bay man, who is in his mid-50s, and hit him in the legs and face with a baton late at night on March 18, 2005.

A photograph taken the next day shows Mr. Lantz’s swollen face, purple eyes and stitches down his bloodied nose. Cpl. Galley had a red mark near his hairline and freely acknowledged what he had done to Mr. Lantz but said he was defending himself.

Judge Jim Burrill ruled the officer used an appropriate escalation of force against Mr. Lantz, who refused to obey Cpl. Galley’s repeated demands to get down on the ground. At trial last month in Bridgewater provincial court, each blamed the other for throwing the first punch. Judge Burrill said he needed the intervening weeks to go over the testimony in detail.

He said the case came down to credibility. Cpl. Galley and Mr. Lantz, who is shorter and heavier than the Mountie, gave differing accounts of what happened.

The officer’s testimony was also inconsistent with that of two independent witnesses who saw the end of the fight and said Mr. Lantz had his hands at his side and was backing away from the officer. Cpl. Galley said he applied such force because Mr. Lantz repeatedly came at him and he feared for his safety.

“In a word, I did not believe the evidence of the accused. I reject his testimony,” Judge Burrill said of Mr. Lantz.

The judge said it is not unusual for witnesses to remember things differently and that the inconsistent accounts were “significantly affected by the fog of battle.” He said he accepted the police officer’s version of events.

Defence lawyer Alan Ferrier said his client is contemplating an appeal, which could lead to a third trial in the case. Mr. Lantz was originally acquitted of assaulting the officer and resisting arrest but convicted of causing a disturbance by fighting and screaming. Both sides appealed and Mr. Lantz was convicted Tuesday on all three charges.

The fight arose out of Cpl. Galley’s seizure of a skateboard belonging to Mr. Lantz’s 14-year-old nephew. The boy and his friend were just a couple of hundred metres from home at the time.

Mr. Lantz went up to Cpl. Galley in his cruiser and asked him why he had seized the board. Mr. Lantz testified he simply asked the question, but Cpl. Galley said Mr. Lantz launched into a cursing tirade.

The officer said he stepped out of his vehicle and Mr. Lantz punched him in the shoulder, grabbed his jacket and then punched him in the nose, head and ear after the officer told him he was under arrest.

Mr. Lantz said the officer delivered the first punch after throwing him against the police car. He said he fought back to defend himself and didn’t get down on the ground as ordered for fear of what would be done to him.
Cpl. Galley said he repeatedly punched and kicked Mr. Lantz out of fear for his own safety but Mr. Lantz just kept coming at him. The officer said he emptied a can of pepper spray in Mr. Lantz’s face, hit him repeatedly in the legs with his baton, then cross-checked him in the face with his baton. Only then did Mr. Lantz go to the ground.

Two witnesses who saw the end of the fight said Mr. Lantz’s hands were at his side and he was backing away from Cpl. Galley. Indeed, the fight ended on the other side of the road from where it began.

But Judge Burrill said the case was not about how the fight ended, but how it began. He ruled the essence of the case was whether Cpl. Galley had lawfully arrested Mr. Lantz in the first place. He said Cpl. Galley was properly engaged in his duty as an RCMP officer, Mr. Lantz resisted arrested, and the ensuing fight did cause a disturbance.

Mr. Lantz is to be sentenced Oct. 3.