Police officer on trial for assault
Man cries after seeing video of constable allegedly striking him in the face near Halifax homeless shelter
A man wept Wednesday after watching a video showing a police officer allegedly striking him in the face near a Halifax homeless shelter.
Joseph (Patrice) Simard was testifying at the trial of Const. Laurence Gary Basso on charges of assault and falsifying information in Halifax police reports.
The video shows an officer approaching the homeless man as he sits on a milk crate outside the Metro Turning Point shelter on the night of Feb. 25.
Simard, 55, had been asked to leave the shelter because he was drinking alcohol in his bed.
After a conversation, the officer puts on a pair of gloves and appears to take hold of Simard’s backpack and shoulder.
In the video, Simard is on his knees as the officer swings his arm and appears to strike Simard in the face. Simard then drops heavily to the ground.
As he watched the video, Simard drew a sharp breath as the officer took his swing.
The Serious Incident Response Team, an independent police watchdog agency, has alleged Basso broke Simard’s nose as he attempted to arrest him at the shelter on Feb. 25.
Defence lawyer James Giacomantonio has told court there is evidence from the video that Simard tried to strike Basso first. The video does show Simard’s arm extended for an instant while he was on his knees.
Simard said he was afraid of leaving the shelter because he was worried about not being safe in the cold weather. He said he asked Basso to take him to the “drunk tank” for the night.
“I was intoxicated, and it was unsafe for me to go somewhere; that neighbourhood is rough ... If you fall asleep somewhere it’s dangerous,” he told the court.
Simard said he couldn’t recall the officer’s car pulling up in front of him, but he said, “I remember the officer in front of me.”
He told prosecutor Sylvia Domaradzki he can remember little beyond the officer telling him the police station is “not a hotel.” He also recalled lying on the ground and being handcuffed.
He testified he had a “blackout” and the next thing he remembered was being at the police station the next day with an aching head.
He didn’t return immediately to the shelter, and instead went into a wooded area and built a shelter where he stayed for four days before returning to the Metro Turning Point to collect items he had in a locker there.
From there, he went to a hospital, as he was continuing to experience pain in his head, and tests determined he had a broken nose. In cross-examination, Giacomantonio asked Simard about another video showing Simard at the police station, with Basso, two other officers and a paramedic standing near him.
The defence lawyer asked Simard why he said to Basso, “I’m so sorry about that,” and put to him it was because he was apologizing for hitting Basso in the leg.
Simard said repeatedly through a French translator - he couldn’t recall the conversation due to an alcoholic blackout.
However, he said he believes that he only said he was sorry because he was attempting to be co-operative with police.