Officer wrongly convicted in 2016 assault: lawyer

calgary The Calgary police officer who broke a fleeing suspect’s ribs and perforated his lungs when he jumped on his back after he laid on the ground was wrongfully convicted of assault, his lawyer said Friday.

Defence counsel Alain Hepner said Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Michele Hollins should overturn the convictions against Const. James Othen for assault causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon.

Hepner argued provincial court Judge Margaret Keelaghan erred when she found Othen used excessive force in his duties as a member of the Calgary Police Service during his arrest of Clayton Prince.

Othen, 41, was convicted in February 2018 in connection with two separate assaults on Prince, one when he jumped knees-first onto Prince’s back after the suspect complied with another officer’s order to lie face down on the ground.

Keelaghan not only found Othen used excessive force in his arrest of Prince, but assaulted the victim a second time while he was handcuffed in a police vehicle by digging a key into his neck behind his ear.

Hepner argued Keelaghan failed to appreciate the “dynamics” of the situation that Othen faced when the officer attempted to arrest Prince on July 30, 2016, after he fled a traffic stop on foot.

He said the judge didn’t properly consider Section 25 of the Criminal Code, which permits officers to use reasonable force in executing their duties.

Hepner said Keelaghan should have found that Othen’s anxiety level was elevated because of the situation he faced and his actions were justified based on his perception of the incident.

“The learned trial judge relied heavily on the lens of hindsight … without really considering the perception of Const. Othen,” the lawyer said.

He said in the “fast-paced fluid circumstances” of Prince’s arrest, Othen misapprehended the level of danger the suspect posed.

Keelaghan should have given greater weight to “the stress of the situation, not knowing what they were getting into.”

But Crown prosecutor Jim Stewart said the judge was entitled to disregard what Othen said he thought the situation presented and consider the evidence from other sources, including a dashboard camera video which captured Othen jumping on Prince’s back.

“We’re not held hostage to what a police officer says they thought was going down at the time,” Stewart said.

Othen was sentenced to 90 days on weekends by Keelaghan, but that punishment has been put on hold pending appeal.

Hollins will hand down a ruling at a later date.