A surveillance video shown at an Ottawa Police Service disciplinary hearing appears to show an officer beating up a drunk, homeless man at a shelter. But the apparent victim said Thursday the officer was just trying to wake him up.

"He wanted to wake me up, and keep me in good shape. I can tell you that. He was honest and sincere," said Laurent Duhamel, 62, an alcoholic homeless man who admitted in testimony Thursday that he doesn't remember much of what happened on May 6, 2006.

This frame from a surveillance video shows Const. Daniel Bargh subduing Laurent Duhamel at Ottawa's Shepherd's of Good Hope shelter on May 6, 2006.

Const. Daniel Bargh, 25, has yet to convince his superiors that his intentions were benign. He's facing a charge of using unnecessary force under the Police Services Act.

"Officers have the authority to use force in effecting an arrest, in dealing with their duties. But how much force, and what's necessary under the circumstances, that's what's of concern," said police service prosecutor Linda Bordeleau.

According to testimony Thursday by staff at the Shepherds of Good Hope shelter, they called police because a drunken Duhamel was being uncooperative and threatening.

Laurent Duhamel said Const. Bargh was simply trying to wake him up.
(CBC)

The hearing earlier heard testimony by the first officer on the scene after Bargh. Const. Norman Redmond said he asked Bargh whether he had punched Duhamel, according to a report in the Ottawa Citizen.

"He said no, [Duhamel] had been violent, and he had simply grounded him," Redmond said.

Bargh's actions that day were captured on the shelter's surveillance video, which shows the constable subduing Duhamel by tossing him to the floor, delivering a blow with his knee and striking a seemingly motionless Duhamel with his fist.

Bargh's lawyer, Bill Carroll, suggested at the hearing that the amount of force was reasonable and necessary. He said many street people are infected with HIV or hepatitis, and that officers have a real concern they could be spit on and infected during an arrest.

Because the videotape does not have any sound on it, it doesn't provide the whole story, according to Charles Momy, the president of the Ottawa Police Association.

"There's no audio involved. So we can't see exactly what the officer is saying, the direction he's giving the individual in question, and just that in itself makes it extremely difficult for anyone to assess," Momy said.

The hearing is expected to conclude Friday afternoon. If Bargh is found guilty, he could be disciplined in a number of ways, such as suspension or demotion, but under the act he cannot be dismissed.