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Calgary Police Association president charged with perjury and assault

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Published on January 20, 2017 with No Comments

Calgary Police Association president Les Kaminski has been criminally charged with perjury and assault with a weapon, while Const. Brant Derrick has been charged with assault causing bodily harm.

The charges relate to a 2008 arrest involving a man who was later acquitted in part because a judge did not believe Kaminski and Derrick were credible or reliable witnesses.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) concluded its part of the investigation and handed the case over to Crown prosecutors, who decided to lay the charges.

After being arrested by Kaminski and other officers during a traffic stop on Aug. 31, 2008, Jason Cyrus Arkinstall was acquitted in 2011 of uttering a threat to kill a police officer.

Provincial Court Judge Terry Semenuk rejected the evidence of  Kaminski and two other officers who testified at the trial. Semenuk wrote that Kaminski wavered in his evidence under cross-examination and didn’t take proper notes. The judge also wrote that video taken by bystanders contradicted the officer’s testimony. “Kaminski  was not a credible or reliable witness,” wrote Semenuk in his decision. The judge wrote that the officers incorrectly believed at the time — based on out-of-date information — that Arkinstall was under court-ordered conditions not to leave the province of British Columbia or consume alcohol.

Initially, Arkinstall refused to get out of the Chevrolet Tahoe he was travelling in and hurled expletives at the officers, according to the judge’s written decision, but after Kaminski and Derrick forcefully struck the vehicle’s windows with their batons, he opened the door and put his arms up.

“Kaminski grabbed the accused by the arms and threw him like a rag doll, face first, on to the hood of the Tahoe,” said Semenuk in his decision. “While pulling his arms forcefully behind his back to handcuff him, the accused complained about a shoulder injury and that he was in pain. Kaminski responded by striking the accused forcefully with the baton twice on the back of his neck.”

While handcuffed, Arkinstall was led to the back of a police van and told to get in, the judge wrote, but “hesitated momentarily” because doing so required a big step up while he was off balance.

“Constable Derrick then forcefully struck the accused in the back of the head with his right hand,” the judge wrote.

“Derrick then grabbed the accused by his neck and hands and threw him headfirst on to his stomach into the back of the van. The accused was thrown with such force that when he landed his legs lifted into the air almost touching the roof of the van. In an obvious burst of anger, and before the accused had a chance to get his legs and feet inside the van, Derrick forcefully slammed the inside cage door and outside van doors on his legs and feet.”

The incident was captured on video by two bystanders in a building above the downtown street where the arrest took place.

Both Kaminski and Derrick have been released from custody on conditions and are due back in court on Feb. 7.

 

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