Mountie cleared in arrest of woman who resisted; she cited past trauma
The province’s police watchdog has cleared an officer of wrongdoing in a Cobble Hill arrest of a woman who said she didn’t comply with attempts to handcuff her because it triggered memories of past abuse.
Shortly before 11 p.m. on Feb. 11, 2022, an RCMP officer stopped a vehicle after it allegedly crossed the centre line of the road twice, according to a report by Ronald MacDonald, chief civilian director of the Independent Investigations Office of B.C.
After briefly speaking with the driver, the officer demanded that she take a breathalyzer test, which she failed. The officer began trying to arrest the woman, starting by grabbing her arm, the report says.
The woman told investigators she was intoxicated and became scared when the officer grabbed her arm. She said she pulled away and didn’t understand why she was being arrested. The woman said she panicked and felt triggered by the arrest attempt, because she had been abused in the past.
The woman told investigators she continued to pull away from the officer because the handcuffs he used were sharp and hurting her. She said she ended up on the ground and doesn’t know how. The officer folded her legs forward and sat on her, she said. She “was kicking at him, he was hurting me,” she told investigators.
The officer called for backup about 15 minutes after he stopped the woman’s car.
Another officer who arrived on the scene described to investigators seeing the woman on her knees but sitting up, wailing and screaming, with her hands cuffed around the front of her body.
The second officer suggested they bring the woman to the ground and told investigators they placed her gently on her stomach while she flailed and rolled around. The officers removed one handcuff to place the woman’s hands behind her back, struggling to do so while she continued fighting, he said.
The initial officer told the woman she would be pepper sprayed if she continued fighting, according to the statements of both the second officer and the woman. The initial officer did not submit to an interview or provide notes. The watchdog office does not compel officers who are the subject of an investigation to submit evidence.
The second officer said he and the other officer “almost had to drag” the woman to the car, because she was not cooperating. Eventually, she got into the backseat of the police vehicle.
The woman said once inside the police car, she noticed she was bleeding and began to “lose it,” telling investigators that she hit her head repeatedly on the plexiglass separating the front and back seats to get the officer’s attention and show him her injury. She said she was trying to get a reaction from the officer.
The woman alleged that during the arrest, the first officer had his knee on her neck and she blacked out. The second officer told investigators he didn’t witness that and didn’t believe it could have happened, based on the other officer’s position when he arrived.
A witness who mostly remained inside the woman’s vehicle and didn’t see much of the interaction said he saw the officer kneel on the woman’s knees and punch her 10 times when the witness briefly got out of the car.
The woman was taken to RCMP cells shortly before midnight and initially declined medical treatment but was later taken to hospital for her mental health. She received two stitches to her head in the hospital.
The woman returned to the RCMP detachment two days later to say she had a torn meniscus in her knee from the arrest. Her medical records show she could not fully extend her left knee, because she had bruised the end of her femur at the knee.
MacDonald found the officer’s use of force was reasonable in the situation to deal with a person who was physically resisting an arrest, but said early de-escalation attempts might have helped to handle the woman’s previous trauma history. However, the officer could not be expected to fully understand her history in the moment, he wrote.
“Although perhaps not perfect, [the officer’s] actions were reasonable and necessary to get [the woman] in handcuffs and into the police car for transport in this situation,” MacDonald wrote.