Man sues T.O. police over 2018 assault
Officer plead guilty to slamming 51-year-old’s head into car window
A Toronto man who was assaulted by a police sergeant while handcuffed has filed a lawsuit alleging the officer “took the law into his own hands” when he slammed the man’s head into a police cruiser at an east-end intersection in 2018.
Shawn Blanchard, 51, names the Toronto Police Services Board, former Toronto police chief Mark Saunders and Douglas Campbell, the former police sergeant found guilty of assaulting him, in a statement of claim filed late last year for more than $500,000 in damages. The lawsuit alleges the officer’s actions constituted abuse of power, assault and battery, among other claims.
“Listen, you’re going to get the s--- kicked out of you, you keep acting like this,” Campbell says shortly after he grabbed Blanchard’s hair and slammed his head into the police cruiser back window, according to dash cam video obtained by Blanchard’s lawyer and provided to the Star.
In a statement of defence filed last month, Campbell, who has since retired from the force, denies Blanchard’s allegations, calling his claim “exaggerated and excessive.”
“If Mr. Blanchard suffered any injuries, damages and/or losses which is not admitted but expressly denied they were all caused or attributed to Mr. Blanchard’s own actions or in part,” his statement of defence reads.
The Toronto police board, alongside Saunders, who retired from the service this month, also denied the allegations in separate statement of defence.
Campbell was charged with assault causing bodily harm by the Special Investigations Unit, Ontario’s police watchdog, but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of assault last year. He was granted a conditional discharge and given 12 months probation after Judge Harvey Brownstone called Campbell’s conduct a “momentary lapse in judgment.”
An agreed statement of fact entered into evidence at Campbell’s guilty plea said the officer “slammed” Blanchard’s head on the car and used “force that was not justified.” Campbell retired a few weeks after he pleaded guilty.
The allegations made in Blanchard’s statement of claim have not been proven in court. Campbell’s lawyer Lorne Honickman declined to comment last week. The Toronto Police Service said it would not offer comment further than what’s contained in the statement of defence.
Since the assault, Blanchard has experienced headaches and a fear of police that is “ever present,” said his lawyer, Barry Swadron, who is representing Blanchard alongside Aroopa Shakeel. Swadron called it “highly unusual” that Campbell’s charge was reduced from a more serious assault charge.
“One wonders whether such a sweetheart deal could have been achieved had Sergeant Campbell not been a police officer, but a civilian,” Swadron said in a statement to the Star.
In his statement of claim, Blanchard says he has no recollection of the day in question, aside from drinking with some friends at his place the night before on May 4, 2018. At Campbell’s guilty plea, court heard Blanchard later went to Winner’s Bar and Grill in Scarborough.
Hours later in the early hours of May 5, 2018, Toronto police were summoned to the area of Danforth Road and Warden Avenue after two 911calls reported a man with no shirt running out into traffic and jumping on the hoods of vehicles. Both callers expressed concern that the man, later identified as Blanchard, would harm himself or others.
Blanchard then boarded a TTC bus wearing no shoes or shirt and seemed “very out of it” and intoxicated by a drug, according to the agreed statement of facts filed in court. Court then heard Blanchard jumped off the bus, ran into the middle of the intersection and climbed on the hood of a vehicle.
Soon after, Const. Bradley Trenouth arrived. He found
Blanchard with abrasions on his body and a dry mouth, performed a pat-down and called an ambulance.
Dashboard camera video obtained by Swadron shows Blanchard waiting in the back of the police car, slurring, breathing heavily and saying he wants to refuse medical attention before telling the officer he needs to lay down. He then starts saying “watch out, watch out” then “move!” before trying to run from the car.
Toxicology tests later showed the presence of alcohol, cocaine and oxycodone in Blanchard’s blood, according to the agreed statement of facts read out in court. Dr. Michael Pollanen, Ontario’s chief forensic pathologist, said Blanchard’s behaviour was consistent with cocaine psychosis.
Trenouth caught Blanchard before he ran away and held him against the side of the car, court heard. Together, the two officers pinned Blanchard against the car and handcuffed him.
It was as Blanchard continued to struggle that Campbell grabbed him “by the hair on the top of his head and slammed his head against the back window of the scout car,” according to the agreed statement of facts. “This use of force was not justified.”
“We’re here to help you, guy. Why are you so f---ing worked up, walking around with no shirt and shoes? What is your f---ing problem this morning? ” Campbell says, according to the video and a transcript of the exchange contained in the agreed statement of fact.
The video shows Blanchard later spits at the officers.
Blanchard alleges in his statement of claim that Campbell “failed to control his anger,” failed to “exercise reasonable judgment in determining how much force, if any, was necessary and justified in the situation” and “failed to appreciate that the plaintiff was delirious, vulnerable and helpless.”
Campbell “took the law into his own hands,” Blanchard alleges in the claim.
After the assault, Blanchard was taken to Michael Garon hospital where he was placed in an induced coma. He was released on a week later on May 12, 2018.
Blanchard argues in his statement of claim that he was treated for bleeding inside his skull and for rib fractures, among other ailments.
In their statement of defence, lawyers representing the Toronto police board and Saunders state that if Blanchard sustained the injuries and damages, they were “caused or contributed to” by his own actions, including that he had been in the middle of traffic, had “jumped upon and came in contact with moving vehicles,” and “ingested drugs or alcohol in sufficient quantities that he lost control of his ability to control his own behaviour,” among other potential causes.
During Campbell’s guilty plea, court heard that Pollanen, the forensic pathologist, was not able to conclude what caused Blanchard’s head injuries, but his opinion was that they “were not particularly serious.”
The head injuries “were more consistent with an impact to the back of the head, such as a fall, and that it did not necessarily result from his interactions with police,” according to the agreed statement of facts.
Blanchard’s loss of consciousness was likely due to cocaine ingestion, Pollanen said.
“Dr. Pollanen was unable to conclude what caused Mr. Blanchard’s head injuries or when the injuries had occurred,” Campbell’s statement of defence says. “He found that Mr. Blanchard’s injuries were not particularly serious and were not the cause of any of his medical problems.” Judge Brownstone called Campbell’s conduct a momentary lapse made “in the heat of the moment.” In addition to the 12 months of probation, the judge required Campbell to seek counselling.