Officer stomped on teen’s head: Mountie

RCMP detachment commander denies being told about incident

An RCMP officer told a disciplinary hearing Friday that she saw an Edmonton police officer stomp on the head of a teenage suspect following a highway chase in 2008.

“There were two stomps and then he steps over (him),” RCMP Const. Nicole Viergutz testified.

“He used his head as a stepping-stone.”

Edmonton police Const. Glenn Thursby is facing a disciplinary charge of unlawful or unnecessary exercise of authority.

The charge stems from the aftermath of a lengthy, latenight pursuit of a stolen pickup truck on Aug. 19, 2008.

The hearing was told the chase began in Vegreville and proceeded west on Highway 16 until Strathcona County RCMP used a spike belt to get the truck to stop near Broadmoor Boulevard.

Two teenage suspects were removed from the truck with the help of a police service dog. The passenger was handcuffed and lying on the ground, when Viergutz said she saw the stomping occur.

The teen, who cannot be identified, did not appear to immediately react to the treatment, nor were there any marks or sign of injury, she said.

Another RCMP officer, Const. Melissa Lee, offered a similar version of events when she testified at the hearing on Monday. Viergutz said the two suspects were eventually taken to the Strathcona County RCMP detachment for processing, when she and Lee discussed what they had seen.

She said she then went to the office of her watch commander, Sgt. Darren Kirk, to tell him what happened.

Kirk, however, told the hearing later that he had no visit from Viergutz. Instead, he said he overheard a brief conversation about the incident from people talking somewhere outside his office.

“I heard comments from a female member, I don’t know who,” he said, noting that his office door was open at the time but the window blinds were drawn. “I don’t remember the exact words, but it was something to the effect of how surprised they were at the amount of force the EPS member used.”

Kirk said he didn’t feel the need to follow up on the comment, in part because he had just seen the suspects in the cellblock area and they appeared to have no injuries other than minor bites from the police dog.

“A lot of our members are junior in service, and they haven’t seen a lot,” Kirk said, a 26-year veteran of the RCMP. “They haven’t been in busy detachments, where it’s rough and tumble. They haven’t worked in a Fort McMurray like I have. “So it didn’t concern me.” The teenager, now 19, testified on Monday.

The disciplinary hearing has been put over until Jan. 9 when Thursby is expected to testify, followed by final arguments. The presiding officer, Supt. Mark Logar, said it’s possible he could make a ruling that day. A criminal charge of assault was laid against Thursby in June 2009, but the case was dismissed more than two years later in September 2011, Alberta Justice spokeswoman Michelle Davio said.

Davio said she didn’t know the reason for the dismissal because she hadn’t yet had a chance to talk to the Crown prosecutor.