IIU won’t investigate use of force on Cassity Delvenne

Manitoba’s police watchdog is not investigating the use of force by Brandon officers on a 24-year-old Indigenous woman while she was resisting arrest in a June incident nine days before she died, the police chief says.

The Brandon Police Service provided the Independent Investigation Unit (IIU) with relevant materials such as photos, dash camera footage, a publicly circulating 45-second video capturing the alleged assault and a video from the woman’s phone, Tyler Bates said during a news conference on Friday.

“The Independent Investigation Unit advised Brandon Police Service that upon review, the matter does not meet its mandate, nor is it in the public interest for the IIU to proceed with an investigation,” he said.

A provincial spokesperson for the IIU declined to comment on why the incident didn’t meet its criteria for an investigation on Friday.

None of the officers involved in the incident will be suspended, Bates said.

He defended the police action, saying the woman was “combative” and that officers use force as a last resort.

An online video of the incident shows at least two officers pinning Cassity Delvenne face down on the ground outside her apartment as one officer strikes her on the back four times. She can be heard shouting in pain in the video.

The clip sparked outrage from many community members, including Cassity’s mother, Crystal Delvenne, who has held two local rallies and recently set up a tent outside the police station in protest.

“I don’t agree with this. It’s absurd,” Crystal said.

“I don’t think any man should be punching a woman while she’s already pinned down and handcuffed.”

Bates acknowledged the public has questions about the incident and said he wanted to provide more context to correct misleading information circulating online.

He said police received a call at 1:30 a.m. on June 12 about a possible impaired driver who was speeding and swerving into oncoming traffic.

“The caller also reported that in order to avoid a head-on collision with the oncoming vehicle, they had to drive into a ditch,” Bates said.

The caller followed the vehicle to 1900 Patricia Avenue and a police officer arrived at the address five minutes later, he said. The officer parked their vehicle in front of the suspect’s vehicle and saw a woman in the driver’s seat who was later identified as Cassity.

The officer told Cassity she was being stopped for a dangerous driving complaint and asked her and a passenger to remain in the vehicle, Bates said.

Police mistakenly said the passenger was a 23-year-old woman in a news release on June 12 but confirmed the passenger was in fact a 23-year-old man on Friday.

Bates said Cassity and the man ignored the officer’s instruction by getting out of the vehicle and walking away.

“Police again verbalized to the driver that she was not free to leave,” he said.

“Cassity became highly argumentative with police, and both occupants repeatedly got into the officer’s personal space.”

The officer attempted to de-escalate the situation and informed Cassity and the passenger that police would speak to them separately, Bates said.

He said the officer noted Cassity’s breath smelled of alcohol and she had slurred speech, a loss of motor skills and struggled to maintain her physical balance.

Police believed Cassity was driving impaired and tried to arrest her, but she repeatedly pulled her hands away and wouldn’t listen to police, Bates said.

“The male passenger also started pushing and obstructing the lone attending police officer by trying to pull her back and getting in between police and Cassity,” he said.

Two more police officers arrived on scene and pulled the man away from Cassity as she tried to escape, Bates said. Police then took Cassity to the ground, where she “became combative” and broke an officer’s radio.

“The fact that force was used in this instance does not, in itself, establish that police acted improperly,” Bates said.

“The circumstances surrounding any use of force must be considered in their entirety, and the truth of this situation was that police were dealing withnon-compliant, resistant and assaultive behaviour by two offenders that were attempting to flee police arrest and apprehension.”

Police are trained to use force as a last resort, Bates said. Use of force can include a wrist lock and applying pressure to a person’s joints.

If these methods are unsuccessful, officers can hit, punch, kick or use other intervention tools such as a taser, baton or pepper spray, he said.

“It is a rare occasion that police have to use force to apprehend an offender,” he added.

In 2026, Brandon police responded to 26,947 calls for service. Of those calls, 19 involved a documented use-of-force incident, Bates said.

After the incident, Cassity and the passenger were detained at the police station. Cassity sustained injuries including a chipped tooth, bruised ribs, a scrape from her ribs to her thigh and bloodied ears, her mother told the Sun.

She was charged with impaired driving, resisting arrest and failing to provide a breath sample.

The man was charged with assaulting a police officer and obstructing a police officer during the incident. Court records show Devlin Martindale was involved in the incident and had his charges dropped by the provincial Crown.

The police update comes as Crystal Delvenne continues to demand accountability into the investigation of Cassity’s death that occurred on June 21.

Police said Cassity was found unconscious and not breathing in her apartment on Patricia Avenue and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Crystal alleges police mishandled evidence when they allowed Cassity’s boyfriend — who was at the scene when she died — to keep her phone and apartment keys.

She believes foul play was involved but police said there is no indication of foul play and are still waiting for the chief medical examiner to determine Cassity’s cause of death.

A video obtained by the Sun shows a man dragging Cassity’s limp body down a hallway 11 minutes before paramedics arrived on scene.

Police confirmed the video is being used as evidence in their investigation.

Kevin Walby, a criminal justice professor at the University of Winnipeg, said the IIU is in dereliction of its duty by not investigating the incident, which creates further injustice for Cassity.

“If the officer was striking her in the organs … that is something that needs to be examined further, not swept under the rug,” Walby said.

“That is significant and to argue that it’s not is to treat Indigenous women like they are disposable.”

Walby said the IIU is primarily made up of retired police officers who may show bias rather than promote accountability. He referenced a 2021 report from Manitoba’s Police Accountability Coalition, which recommends retired members should not staff the IIU.

» tadamski@brandonsun.com