(CBC News) – A Yellowknife RCMP officer says he is relieved after a judge acquitted him of an assault charge on Thursday.
Territorial court Judge Bernadette Schmaltz found Const. Jason Muzzerall not guilty of assaulting a 29-year-old man who was in police custody on April, 18, 2009.
“I was quite confident in the judge’s decision. Obviously, I sat through the case. I’ve seen the evidence. You got to trust the system that we work for,” Muzzerall told CBC News outside court after the verdict was handed down.
“I’m glad the acquittal came through and the judge’s decision, I think, was fair. I’m just looking forward to moving on.”
Muzzerall was charged with assault causing bodily harm, after the man alleged that he had been assaulted while in custody at the Yellowknife RCMP detachment.
The Crown argued that Muzzerall used excessive force by pushing the complainant to the ground while escorting him into police cells.
But on the stand, the man alleged that Muzzerall kicked him in a cell, a claim that Schmaltz rejected.
Man fell, judge says
The judge ruled that Muzzerall was acting within his role as a police officer when the complainant fell face-first onto the ground.
Schmaltz said Muzzerall was trying to deal with a “large, loud and aggressive man who wasn’t complying with his orders.”
As well, she said none of the Crown’s witnesses supported the prosecutors’ argument that Muzzerall was using excessive force.
There was no cellblock video footage of the kick that was alleged by the complainant. Court heard that the RCMP officer who investigated the assault complaint got rid of the video in question, thinking it was not relevant.
Schmaltz said it was unfortunate that police did not have a copy of that cellblock video, she said she believes the RCMP officers’ testimony over that of the complainant, whose memory said she was “at best, clouded by alcohol.”
‘I’m not a malicious person’: officer
The complainant admitted on the stand Wednesday that he had consumed about 25 drinks prior to his arrest outside a downtown Yellowknife bar.
The court did see another cellblock video showing the complainant falling as five officers, including Muzzerall, escorted him from a booking area at the detachment.
“I cannot say for sure if Muzzerall threw [the] man to the ground,” Schmaltz said, based on what she saw in the cellblock video.
But she added that when the video was viewed in slow motion, it seemed apparent that the man had tripped as the officers tried to escort him in the opposite direction.
“People who know me know me as being fair. I’m not a malicious person,” Muzzerall said.
“I treat people as I’d like to be treated, and I’ll continue to do my job the way I’ve always done it.”
It was standing room only in the courtroom on Thursday morning as RCMP officers came out to hear the verdict. The complainant was not present.
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