Body camera footage helped clear two Mounties in an excessive force investigation arising from an arrest in Leduc on Jan. 18. Alberta’s police watchdog said on Wednesday that the camera footage supported officers’ accounts of what happened after they were called to the home to arrest a man who had reportedly assaulted someone earlier that night. The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ALERT) said the man was seen repeatedly resisting arrest, which prompted both officers to hit him at various points. The man sustained a bloody nose and “significant” swelling to his right eye, ASIRT said, after one officer punched him seven times in the face and neck, while the other delivered “several knee strikes.” The full extent of his injuries remained unknown, however, because the man refused to release his medical records or cooperate with investigators. While the man later told paramedics the officers had kicked him in the face several times, ASIRT said the body camera footage showed the injuries to his face were caused by the multiple closed-fist strikes. “While those strikes clearly caused injury, their manner of delivery does not suggest they were intended to do so,” ASIRT wrote. “Their short-range nature, the absence of any apparent wind-up, and the limited force generation visible on the video are more consistent with distraction strikes intended to gain compliance.” ASIRT cleared the officers, saying the force was proportionate, necessary and reasonable.
