Winnipeg officer on trial for assault
CBC News
Posted: Nov 26, 2012 11:32 AM CST
Last Updated: Nov 26, 2012 4:18 PM CST
A Winnipeg police officer is on trial for allegedly kicking a prisoner so hard the man suffered a ruptured colon and spent several weeks recovering in hospital.
Const. Ryan Law, 28, who is the nephew of former police chief Keith McCaskill, is charged with aggravated assault against Henry Lavallee in 2008. Law's trial began Monday in Winnipeg.
Lavallee, now 48, and another man were arrested in November 2008 for breaking into a car in the Exchange District. The two men were taken to the Public Safety Building and put in a holding cell.
The Crown alleges Law walked in and kicked Lavallee in the stomach.
When Lavallee was transferred to the Winnipeg Remand Centre, he complained to nurses of being kicked and began vomiting and passing blood, court was told.
In remand centre video footage shown in court Monday, Lavallee was asked by a nurse if he had any medical conditions.
He was heard replying, "I might have internal bleeding because this officer kicked me in the gut."
Lavallee could also be heard groaning as he tried to remove his clothes.
Memorized badge number
He was taken to St. Boniface Hospital, where a doctor performed surgery for internal injuries, including a ruptured colon.
Court heard that Lavallee's mother filed a complaint with the Law Enforcement Review Agency, and an officer from the Professional Standards Unit was assigned to the case.
Det. Sgt. Randy Levasseur testified that Lavallee had memorized the badge number of the officer who kicked him, but the number he gave was one digit off from the one assigned to Law.
Levasseur said he identified Law and his partner as the two officers who brought Lavallee to the remand centre.
Levasseur told the court he showed Lavallee a pack of photographs, but Lavallee could not identify Law from the images shown.
Law is being represented by Richard Wolson and Saul Simmonds, two of the most senior criminal lawyers in the city.
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