THUNDER BAY – The 60-year-old man who was detained under the Mental Health Act said after leaving the hospital he was ‘assaulted’ by Const. Ryan Dougherty of the Thunder Bay Police Service, but the defence argues the evidence is not consistent with his recounting of events.
“I got jumped. That’s when he hit me and brought me to the ground,” the man testified in court on Tuesday. “I put my hands up in the air as I was instructed and was about to put my hands onto the hood when he assaulted me.”
The complainant was testifying on day two of the trial for Dougherty on Tuesday for the charge of assault causing bodily harm. Dougherty pleaded not guilty to the charge at the start of the trial.
On Monday, the court heard that officers with the Thunder Bay Police Service and Mobile Crisis Response Team were conducting a wellness check on the complainant in November 2022.
Based on the complainant’s behaviour and concern for his well-being, officers decided to transport him to the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre under the Mental Health Act.
After being transferred to a room inside the hospital, the complainant said no one came to see him, so he decided to leave through the emergency room front doors with the intention of walking home.
While walking on Oliver Road just past the hospital entrance, he said a police cruiser pulled up with its lights flashing.
The court heard on Monday that Dougherty was at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre at the time on an unrelated matter and was asked by nursing staff to retrieve the complainant and return him to the hospital.
“[Dougherty] got out of the car and told me to raise my hands, which I did,” the complainant testified. “And then he told me put my hands on the hood of his car. I was about to do that and that’s when the interaction occurred.”
In body camera footage from other responding officers to the scene, Dougherty can be heard saying the complainant tried to run and then started to fight.
Camera footage from the back of Dougherty’s police cruiser where the complainant was detained captured several exchanges between the two while enroute back to the hospital.
“Holy Ryan, why were you so rough?” the complainant asked.
“You don’t listen,” Dougherty responded.
Later the complainant is heard saying: “tell the truth. Don’t you lie. Lying is bad.
“That wasn’t resisting you and you plug me in the head two times,” the complainant said.
“I did punch you because you didn’t listen,” Dougherty is heard saying.
The complainant added that two days after the incident, he returned to the hospital and was diagnosed with a broken nose and a concussion.
During cross-examination by defence counsel Michael Hargadon, the complainant was asked if he was agitated at the time of his interaction with Dougherty.
“When you were struck you weren’t agitated in anyway?” Hargadon asked.
“No, I don’t remember,” the complainant said.
Hargadon also raised several inconsistencies with the complainant’s testimony, including that his medical records from the hospital indicate he was seen by a doctor that night, that he was trying to hide his true emotions to avoid being taken to the hospital in the first place, and the reason he decided to leave the hospital.
“The reason why you left [the hospital] is because your anxiety got the better of you,” Hargadon suggested.
“I agree with that,” the complainant said.
Several inconsistencies of the actual interaction with Dougherty were also raised by Hargadon. In his testimony, the complainant said Dougherty approached in his police cruiser with the lights on and was facing east.
Images from Dougherty’s body-worn camera show his vehicle did not have flashing lights and was parked facing west.
The complainant also testified Dougherty punched him when he was about to put his hands on the hood of the cruiser and he fell right there. But the body camera footage shows the complainant was on the ground and placed in handcuffs several feet away from the back of the vehicle.
“You are struck at the vehicle. Your testimony is that you fall right there. And yet you are arrested what looks to me like two car lengths away. How did you get there?” Hargadon asked.
“I don’t know,” the complainant replied, having added several times during cross-examination that he has a bad memory in general.
The court also heard the dispatch call Dougherty made requesting additional units and him saying someone is fighting with him.
“Is it your version of events, Dougherty gets out and assaults you for no reason, and somehow manages to make up a fake dispatch call to cover it up?” Hargadon asked.
“I don’t know,” the complainant said.
Hargadon added that he was not interested in who the complainant is as a person, having already said he believes him to be a peaceable and dignified person, but that he was interested in what his actions were that evening.
“Here’s what I think happened,” Hargadon said. “I think what happened is Const. Dougherty, he will testify to this, he approaches you and tells you to put your hands on the hood of his car. And you refuse because you’re not going back there.”
“If I had to go back there, I would have gone back there,” the complainant said.
The trial is scheduled to resume today.
