EPS constable to be sentenced for assault
Witnesses say they saw officer striking homeless man while kneeling on his back
An Edmonton police officer convicted of assaulting a homeless man will be sentenced next month.
Const. Matthew O’mara’s case was briefly in Edmonton provincial court Friday to set a date for sentencing, which the court scheduled for Sept. 17. O’mara was convicted in November of assaulting Craig Jephtas-crail outside a downtown Edmonton convenience store on Dec. 11, 2017.
Court heard Jephtas-crail was sleeping at a table inside a 7-Eleven at 104 Street and Jasper Avenue at the time of his encounter with O’mara. He was homeless and struggling with addiction.
Judge T.D. Depoe found O’mara took Jephtas-crail to the sidewalk after ordering him out of the store sometime after 11 p.m. O’mara then punched Jephtas-crail twice in the face while kneeling on his back. Witnesses inside a nearby bar described seeing Jephtas-crail’s head “bounce” off the sidewalk.
O’mara and a partner then dropped Jephtas-crail in the river valley. During that time, the police cruiser’s GPS data was “switched off, or coincidentally somehow lost,” Depoe found.
The judge ultimately did not buy O’mara’s evidence that he was worried Jephtas-crail would assault him with his free arm.
“He (O’mara) was not a believable witness and I reject his evidence, particularly that which relates directly to his use of force and the reasons for it.”
Depoe also took issue with the fact the police Professional Standards Branch didn’t become involved in the incident until nearly two months after the fact.
“Any investigation of a civilian committing a similar assault, in similar circumstances, and reported by an eyewitness … would be commenced much more promptly — within hours very likely,” Depoe said.
O’mara remains on active duty in an administrative capacity, police spokeswoman Cheryl Voordenhout said in an email.