Eskasoni man says he was beaten by cop
SiRT investigating complaint against regional police officer
SiRT has launched an investigation into allegations a Cape Breton Regional Police officer used excessive force on a man while transporting him to jail.
The Serious Incident Response Team (SiRT) independently investigates all serious incidents which arise from the actions of police in Nova Scotia.
Chris Bernard, 38, from Eskasoni, told the Cape Breton Post on Aug. 1 the incident happened between 2 a.m. and 3a.m. on July 28.
Bernard, who admits he was violating parole by being in a bar and drinking alcohol, said he was handcuffed in the back of the cruiser when the officer pulled over and punched him in the head — repeatedly — until he passed out.
Bernard says officers were apparently responding to a call someone made reporting Bernard had an open needle on him. Bernard and his friends were leaving the Capri Cabaret on Charlotte Street when they saw three police cruisers and six officers arrive.
Thinking they were there for him, Bernard said he put his hands behind his back to be handcuffed and went willingly so as not to incite any anger among the crowd that was growing because it was closing time at the bar.
Bernard says officers searched him twice for the needle, once before he was handcuffed and once after, but found nothing.
While the other officers were dispersing the crowd, Bernard says one officer, whom he hadn’t
met before, offered to drive him to the Cape Breton Correctional Facility to be booked.
Once the officer started driving, Bernard said he started throwing racial and homophobic slurs at him and Bernard started arguing back.
“It was a beef instantly. He got in and said, ‘You’re not so tough now’ or something to that effect,” Bernard said during an interview at a restaurant in downtown Sydney.
Bernard, who has been addicted to opioids for 20 years, is no stranger to the law, admitting
he has committed robberies to “feed” his drug habit. Over the years he’s had verbal altercations with police officers so he didn’t think he was in danger when the officer pulled over on the side of the road.
After pulling over, Bernard claims the officer punched him repeatedly in the head until he passed out and that when he woke up, he was face down, choking on his blood and worried he was going to be dropped off somewhere and shot.
According to Bernard, when they arrived at the correction facility other officers questioned what happened and an ambulance was called about 10 minutes after he arrived. He was taken to the Cape Breton Regional Hospital where he was cleared to spend the night in jail and taken back. He said he wasn’t permitted to clean the blood off his face.
Bernard said he was released at 12 p.m. on July 28 and, not knowing where to go, he walked to the Mayflower Mall, dried blood still on his face. A woman he knows from Eskasoni saw him and asked what happened. When he told her, she took a photo for him since he has no phone or residence.
When he was leaving the mall, a different woman noticed he was disoriented in the parking lot and called 911. Brought back to hospital, Bernard said he was there for 10 hours and doctors told him he had whiplash and a concussion. He also couldn’t hear out of the ear on the side of the head where he claims he was punched for a few days after the incident.
“It doesn’t matter what country you’re in or what you did. He shouldn’t have even dealt with me alone… Even if you give all the allegations were twice as bad and true, this shouldn’t have happened.”
Bernard hopes by telling his story and filing a complaint “the right way” it will stop something like this from happening again.
“I was so helpless and afraid at that time,” he said, admitting he is a little bitter and would like to make the officer pay for his actions.
“When I try to flip it in his favour, I can’t. Even in my sick head. I can’t justify, for him, at all why he might have done this.”
Bernard was charged with two counts of breaching probation and will appear in court in September.