Michael Staples (Daily Gleaner) – A Fredericton police officer says he feared for his safety the night he arrested Luc Begin in front of a downtown nightclub.
“It was very scary, very stressful – just a very intense situation,” Const. Stephen Stafford testified Thursday at his assault trial in Fredericton.
Stafford, a four-year veteran of the force, is charged with the July 18, 2009, assault of Begin, 28, an infantry soldier with Quebec’s Royal 22nd Regiment from Canadian Forces Base Valcartier.
The alleged incident occurred outside of Sweetwaters on King Street, now known as iRock.
Part of the arrest was captured on videotape by Fredericton blogger Charles Leblanc and posted on YouTube. It shows a police officer kneeing a man in the back while he’s on the ground and being placed under arrest.
Stafford told the court he had no choice but to use knee strikes on Begin but was adamant that he never intended to strike his back or to cause him injury.
The former member of the Calgary Police Service said he was trying to get Begin to put his hands behind his back so he could be handcuffed.
Instead of complying, Begin clasped his hands in front of himself and became rigid, Stafford said under direct examination by defence lawyer T.J. Burke.
Stafford said when he arrived on the scene that night, he assessed the threat level and was concerned by what was going on.
Stafford said Const. Fred Loiseau was telling Begin he was under arrest for obstruction – connected to an incident a week earlier in which he allegedly walked over Loiseau’s patrol car – and was asking for identification.
“Mr. Begin was answering … ‘No it’s not me. I didn’t do anything.”’
Stafford said Begin was also swearing at the officer.
He said Begin’s non-compliance led to Loiseau grabbing one of Begin’s arms and an auxiliary constable taking the other. They moved towards a patrol car, he said.
As the situation unfolded, Stafford said, he felt Begin was beginning to overpower the two officers.
The crowd was also yelling, “Let him go.”
“At that point, I made the decision Mr. Begin had to be taken to the ground,” Stafford said.
He told the court he walked up behind Begin, put a hand on his face and used the grip to turn his head.
“I delivered a kick to the left calf in an effort to have him fall to the ground.”
The move was successful as everyone dropped. Stafford said he was in the area of Begin’s midsection.
He said he heard the crowd continue to roar at them.
“I began to be scared,” Stafford said. “I thought someone was going to jump on my back … I was fearful the situation was deteriorating quickly.”
While on the ground with Begin, Stafford said, he tried different techniques to have him release his frontal grip, but when all else failed, the decision was made to use knee strikes.
The upper leg and lower buttock area were the targets, he said.
“After I delivered the third knee strike, his grasp broke free.”
Stafford said he was never taught while training with the Calgary Police Service to focus on the back, but he learned from his instructors that unintended strikes could happen.
Under cross-examination by Crown prosecutor Gabriel Bourgeois, Stafford admitted he was never asked by Loiseau to get involved that night or to take down Begin.
Cross-examination of Stafford is scheduled to continue this morning.
Earlier, Cpl. Rick Turnbull, an expert on the use of force with RCMP J Division, told the court that he and Crown witness Sgt. Rick Walkinshaw, his counterpart from Nova Scotia, agreed to disagree about their assessments of the July 18, 2009, incident.
Turnbull, although the Crown argued against it, was declared an expert on use of force by the court.
Turnbull said he was asked by the investigating officer to examine the file and the video of the Begin incident but was never requested to write a report on his findings.
“I felt Const. Stafford’s available options were essentially limited to knee strikes” for his own safety, Turnbull said.
Under cross-examination by prosecutor Jeff Mockler, Turnbull dismissed a suggestion that he had an inordinate interest in the case because he wasn’t asked to be a Crown witness.
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