Ex-Argo faces verdict in assault, drug case
Says police planted cocaine to justify search without cause Officers say they were punched trying to subdue ex-linebacker
The verdict in the trial of a former Toronto Argonaut linebacker charged with cocaine possession and two counts of assaulting police with intent to resist arrest will be delivered tomorrow in a Brampton courtroom.
Oreth ( Orlando) Bowen, 30, pleaded not guilty to the charges, stemming from an incident on the night of March 26, 2004, in the parking lot of the Locomotion strip club, on Eglinton Ave. E. and Dixie Rd. in Mississauga. The judge- only trial was adjourned on Oct. 5 after four days of testimony and legal arguments. The Crown alleges Bowen, who played four years in the Canadian Football League, dropped a tiny bag of cocaine containing 1.7 grams when arrested by two Peel undercover officers, and assaulted them with fists and an elbow while trying to escape. The defence didn’t call witnesses and Bowen didn’t testify.
Defence counsel David Humphrey contended his client was searched without cause and assaulted by the officers who planted the cocaine to justify their action. He also cited several inconsistencies in police testimony. The seized substance, purporting to be cocaine, was entered as an exhibit but the Crown, in an admitted oversight, failed to enter a certificate of analysis.
According to trial transcripts, two officers were patrolling in an unmarked van that night. The officers saw Bowen standing by the rear driver’s side door of his Nissan Sentra, with his right hand down the front of his pants, and thought he could be retrieving liquor or drugs.
Constables Grant Gervais and Sheldon Cook saw him pull a green bottle out of his pants and place it on the car. It turned out to be cologne.
Gervais testified he said “ police” and asked Bowen to put down a cellphone he was using.
Gervais saw Cook coming up behind Bowen and silently mouthed “ drugs,” then pointed to the back seat. The rear door was open and inside Cook saw a small tire iron and a rubber mask in the middle of the seat. Cook said he mouthed the word “ dope,” because he’d seen Bowen drop a tiny package on the ground with his right hand. Gervais said he didn’t see the drop, his view being partly obscured by the open car door. Cook was also concerned about the mask and tire iron because there had been a recent string of massage parlour robberies using disguises.
Gervais testified hetold Bowen he was under arrest and Bowen put down the phone, closed the door, then turned and punched Gervais hard in the face, elbowed Cook in the face and tried to run, but was grabbed. Both officers said they were punched several times and had a violent struggle with Bowen, punching him in the face several times while trying to subdue him. The officers and Bowen suffered facial cuts and swelling from the punches, according to testimony and police photographs entered as exhibits.
Gervais said he injured ligaments in one hand and pulled lower back muscles and Cook said he suffered a torn right rotator cuff. Both missed work, including a month for Cook. Humphrey suggested Bowen’s facial injuries were worse than the officers’, and that his client was rammed face down into the pavement and kicked on the ground.
During the incident, Gervais insisted Bowen had the phone in his right
hand while Cook testified it was in
Bowen’s left hand and he removed
and dropped the drugs from his
waistband with his right hand. Humphrey cited that as a key discrepancy in the officers’ testimony. Humphrey also pointed out that police testimony about the mask and tire iron being found in the middle of the seat was contradicted by a police photograph showing a child car seat there and that the officers differed on when the alleged drug was retrieved by one of them.