The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. won’t be asking the Crown to consider laying charges against a Surrey Mountie who got into a scuffle with a scooter rider last September that resulted in a broken ankle.
The Surrey-based IIO investigates on and off-duty police-related incidents involving death and serious harm.
Chief Civilian Director Ron MacDonald, of the IIO, noted that at about 8:30 p.m. Sept. 29, 2018, there had been a minor collision between an electric scooter and a car that was parked outside a business in Surrey.
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The police were called and there was a confrontation between a cop and the “affected person,” who was taken to the ground and arrested.
The scooter rider complained of a sore ankle, and X-rays confirmed the injury as a fracture which was later repaired with a plate and screws.
The owner of the car told the IIO the scooter rider was holding an open can of beer and appeared to be intoxicated.
The scooter rider claimed the cop screamed at him and “sucker punched” him in the face.
“Faced with this aggressive and intoxicated male,” MacDonald noted, the cop “delivered a single blow to gain control over him.”
“In the circumstances,” MacDonald concluded, this “was not unreasonable.”
“I do not consider that an officer may have committed an offence under any enactment and therefore the matter will not be referred to Crown counsel for consideration of charges,” he concluded.
tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com
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