Officer denies calling black passenger ‘boy’

Preacher launched $1M civil lawsuit for assault, false arrest, violating the charter

A second Hamilton police officer involved in a late-night altercation involving a black preacher six years ago testified he didn’t use a racial slur that night, didn’t hear any of his colleagues use a racial slur, and that race played no role in how the night’s events were handled.

Const. Shawn Smith also denied he called the black passenger in the vehicle that night “boy.”

Smith is one of five Hamilton police officers facing a $1-million civil lawsuit launched by Rikki Jeremiah for assault, false arrest and violating the Charter of Rights and Freedoms over an altercation that took place early on Feb. 13, 2012.

Jeremiah, a 50-year-old preacher with the Seventh Day Adventist Church on Hamilton Mountain, alleges he was lawfully seated in his car at the corner of King Street East and West Avenue North talking with a friend at around 1:40 a.m., when police surrounded his car, dragged him from the front seat without any reasonable cause and then pinned him on the ground with a knee in his groin.

Smith testified he got out of the marked police van and went to the passenger side of Jeremiah’s car. He said his interactions that night were only with the passenger, who he described as “really co-operative.”

He also stated his primary concern when he got out of the police van was “officer safety” because it was unknown if a weapon was hidden under the front seat.

Smith testified he didn’t see his colleague, Const. Ian Milburn, physically take Jeremiah to the ground because he was on the opposite side of the car.

“I knew there was a commotion going on,” Smith said.

Under cross-examination, Smith acknowledged that even though officer safety was his main concern, he never searched the passenger at any point during the incident.

Det.-Const. Brent Gibson testified that he was also part of the police team involved in the incident. He said he saw Jeremiah apparently reach down to conceal something beside his seat.

He testified he didn’t interact with either of the men in the car and that his role was simply to conduct a brief search of the front seat. The item placed there turned out to be a Bluetooth earpiece. Closing submissions begin Friday.