Force defends officers who kicked suspect

WINNIPEG — Police have defended the actions of officers who kneed and kicked a man while arresting him and are contacting Indigenous leaders to discuss what happened.

A blurry, 74-second video taken by a bystander and posted online Thursday shows three officers in Winnipeg struggling to turn over a man on the ground to handcuff him. One officer knees the man in the back twice. A fourth officer walks up and kicks the man two times in the shoulder. One officer deploys a Taser while another puts a foot on the man’s shoulder. The man is soon in cuffs.

Kevin Walby, associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Winnipeg, said the video shows problematic behaviour, since the suspect was already on the ground when he was kneed, kicked and shocked with a Taser.

“All three of those uses of force come after the person is already detained and restrained,” Walby said Friday. Walby compared the video with that of Rodney King, whose arrest and beating at the hands of Los Angeles police in 1991 sparked riots.

Winnipeg Police on Friday released another video taken from security cameras. Const. Jay Murray said officers were responding to reports of a man armed with a gun and high on methamphetamine who was threatening pedestrians during Thursday’s morning rush hour. He said the man had broken a large granite slab and busted a window at the Centennial Concert Hall to break in. Officers saw a suspect throw what appeared to be a handgun to the ground. The suspect refused orders to get on the ground, Murray said.

“Officers struggled to place the male into handcuffs. While struggling with the officers, a knife and a heavy bar were located on the male.”

The security camera video shows the man throwing what appears to be a gun — it was later found to be an airsoft or replica gun — to the ground as he walks away from officers. Three officers wrestle with the man before getting him to the ground and one officer punches the man several times. The video shows that officers got a knife from the man’s waist area and kicked it away from him.

Murray said the video is hard to watch, but officers did what they had to so they could arrest the man. “That’s the goal, to get that person into custody safely, and they were unable to do so until the kicks were applied to the shoulder and the Taser was used.”

Murray said police Chief Danny Smyth has contacted Indigenous leaders to discuss the arrest.