Crown counsel and defence legal professionals for 3 Vancouver police constables gave clashing narratives of an arrest that left a suspect with critical accidents because the officers’ assault trial wrapped up on Friday.
Crown prosecutor Peter Campbell advised a provincial court docket choose that video of the arrest confirms all the quite a few punches and knee strikes delivered by Vancouver Police Division constables Brandon Blue and Beau Spencer and now-retired constable Gregory Jackson had been extreme and pointless.
Defence legal professionals, then again, argued they had been solely taking affordable measures to carry a resistant man underneath management, and prompt Crown was being careless with its proof.
Campbell mentioned that by the point Blue arrived on the scene on the Industrial-Broadway SkyTrain station on Could 24, 2017, adopted shut behind by his accomplice Spencer after which Jackson, suspect David Cowie had already been introduced underneath management by one other officer.
“At that time, Mr. Cowie had been subdued. He was not actively resisting,” Campbell mentioned, describing Cowie as a frail, brief man.
Campbell argued that the video even confirmed Spencer kneeing Cowie as he was being handcuffed.
Decide Jay Solomon interrupted to ask for clarification, saying that, as he recalled, the situation of Cowie’s proper hand wasn’t clear within the video at that time.
Spencer’s lawyer, Claire Hatcher, took problem with Campbell’s arguments on that time as effectively.
“Crown has taken what I might submit is a little bit of an informal method to the proof, which is troubling,” Hatcher mentioned.
After the takedown, Cowie was handled for 4 damaged ribs — together with two that had been every fractured in two locations — in addition to a collapsed lung.
The trial has heard proof from an emergency doctor who reviewed video of the arrest and testified that Cowie’s accidents appeared to have been brought on by the officers’ knees. The physician mentioned Spencer was most probably accountable.
Spencer has admitted that at one level, he kneed Cowie thrice and punched him thrice inside simply six seconds.
Campbell described the drive utilized by Spencer as an “order of magnitude better” than both of his co-accused, suggesting he kneed Cowie within the ribs regardless of being educated to keep away from the torso.
Defence says officers did not intend to punish suspect
In her closing submissions, Hatcher acknowledged that Spencer was answerable for “the lion’s share” of the blows to Cowie, however mentioned there was no proof he struck the suspect within the ribs.
Hatcher mentioned the video wasn’t capable of convey the indicators of resistance the officers had been seeing from Cowie, and that Spencer was aiming for Cowie’s thigh and buttocks in an try to manage his legs.
She mentioned Spencer didn’t intend to punish or hurt Cowie.
“If Const. Spencer had such an intention, he wouldn’t be punching a buttock or a thigh … he can be punching a face,” Hatcher mentioned.
In his submissions, Blue’s lawyer, David Jardine, prompt that Crown had didn’t show that any of the officers had been answerable for Cowie’s accidents.
He argued they might have been brought on by Const. Josh Wong, who the trial has heard was additionally investigated by the Unbiased Investigations Workplace, a civilian-led police oversight company, however by no means charged.
Wong was the officer who initially chased Cowie into the SkyTrain station, the place he tackled him to the bottom after which punched him earlier than calling for backup.
Blue was the primary to reply to that decision, and the video exhibits him instantly sliding into the suspect along with his knee.
Jardine argued that the trial hadn’t heard proof about Cowie’s bodily situation earlier than the arrest, suggesting there may have been pre-existing accidents as effectively.
As for Jackson, his lawyer, Kevin Westell, mentioned the now-retired officer’s actions must be considered considerably individually from the others’.
Jackson was final to reach on the scene, and in contrast to Blue and Spencer, he will be seen within the video pausing to evaluate the state of affairs earlier than grabbing onto Cowie and delivering two fast punches.
“If his intent was to be assaultive, to be punitive, to be unfair, he would have are available and began laying blows straight away,” Westell mentioned.
He identified that Blue, Spencer and Wong had been all younger and had labored collectively for a few years responding to emergency calls, whereas Jackson was in his 50s and a part of a youth intervention group.
“He is not on the market to crack heads and search for fights. He is on the market driving round with a social employee,” Westell mentioned.
Campbell argued in his submissions that it was Jackson’s responsibility to find out what drive had already been used in opposition to Cowie earlier than he started punching.
The trial has now concluded, and a call is predicted on Jan. 12.