Brandon cop charged with assault
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/03/2024 (675 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A Brandon police officer is facing assault and theft charges after the province’s police watchdog concluded its investigation into his interactions with two young men last fall.
Brandon Police Service Const. Darwin Raga was charged this week with two counts of assault and one count of theft under $5,000, the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba (IIU) said in a press release issued Friday.
In the Sept. 3 incident, a BPS officer allegedly grabbed a man and forced him onto the hood of a police car, then knocked a cellphone out of the hands of another man who was using it to video record the alleged assault. The officer also allegedly took possession of the cellphone.
A still frame from a video taken on Sept. 3, 2023 shared with the Brandon Sun shows a Brandon Police Service officer during an incident that was investigated by the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba. On Friday, the IIU announced that a BPS officer had been charged in connection with the incident. (File)
The incident was a result of a report of loud music in the 700 block of Ninth Street. In a 51-second video, which was shared anonymously with the Sun last year, an officer can be seen talking to a young man, then grabbing him and pushing him up against the police cruiser.
While the man’s body is pressed against the cruiser, one of the officers talking to him can be heard making comments about “attitude” and the officer can be heard telling the man, “I don’t give a s—t about what you think you know.”
After the officers release the man, the officer who had forced the man against the cruiser approaches the person filming the incident and instructs him to get back in their house.
“Get your music out of here,” the officer says before shouting, “Get in the house!” and appearing to slap the video-recording phone away, which then seems to fall to the ground.
At the time, a source told the Sun that police took the cellphone and when the young men went to BPS headquarters, they got the phone back and showed the staff sergeant on duty the video.
Acting Police Chief Randy Lewis told the Sun at the time that he had not seen the video before and provided the video and details of the call to the IIU.
Later that week, the IIU announced it would investigate.
On Friday, after the IIU announced the charges against Raga, the BPS declined to comment. However, the its public information officer said Raga had been reassigned to a “non-operational role” within the police service, where he will not be conducting patrols.
Raga has been with BPS for 20 years. The charges against him have not been proven in court and he remains innocent until proven guilty.
His matter is scheduled to appear in Brandon court on April 11.
» gmortfield@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @geena_mortfield