Brandon police officer cleared for pushing man into cell, causing fall

Manitoba’s police watchdog has cleared a Brandon Police Service officer who pushed an unco-operative man into a detention cell, resulting in him striking his head on the concrete floor and losing consciousness.

A report from the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba that was released Monday revealed that the man sustained a three-centimetre cut to his head, which was closed with four staples.

The civilian director concluded the report with a finding that the officer was “reasonable in his actions” on May 8 when the incident took place.

IIU investigators interviewed the affected person, who police identified as Orlando Bell in their report to the IIU, along with two police associates and two witness officers.

The subject officer refused to be interviewed but agreed to turn over his notes.

The affected person told investigators he became “belligerent” with police when he encountered them after leaving a birthday party. He said he was detained and taken to the hospital to be medically cleared.

He told investigators that while at the hospital, police “threw him against a counter, pulled his hair, pressed a knee in his back and yelled at him for not answering the nurse’s questions,” the IIU said.

The man recalled police taking him to a cell, where an officer pushed him from behind, causing him to fall face-first onto the floor.

He denied resisting or fighting the officers.

He said an officer later returned to his cell and demanded the man tell him where the drugs were, the report said. The man denied having any.

The officer continued to get physical with him, he said, and told him if he didn’t co-operate, “the next time would be worse,” the report read.

The report noted that “none of the video surveillance corroborates the statement that (the affected person) provided to the IIU.”

In the subject officer’s notes, he said the man was “intoxicated and belligerent” and stated that while placing the man in his cell, he “pulled away from him and turned towards him as if to square off with him,” the report said.

The officer said he pushed the man into the cell, and he fell backward, hitting his head. He noted that the man regained consciousness in a few minutes, and he proceeded to yell at officers while waiting for the ambulance to arrive.

Both police associates told investigators that the man was not co-operative and that the officer pushed him into the cell, causing him to fall.

One witness officer said the man was found passed out on a sidewalk and tried to fight the paramedics when they assisted him.

He described the man’s behaviour as erratic.

The IIU investigated the matter, as it involved an injury to a person in custody.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com