THUNDER BAY - A judge said a Thunder Bay Police Service officer who punched a 60-year-old man in the head four times was acting out of frustration and the use of force was not necessary, reasonable, or proportionate.
Justice Paul O’Marra found Const. Ryan Dougherty guilty of assault causing bodily harm in October following a five day trial in July.
The court heard evidence that the complainant was apprehended in November 2022 under the Mental Health Act and transported to the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.
The complainant left the hospital without permission and Dougherty, who was there on an unrelated matter, was asked to search for him.
Dougherty located the complainant on Oliver Road and attempted to apprehend him. A struggle ensued and Dougherty punched the complainant four times in the head.
The complainant returned to the hospital the next day and was diagnosed with a fractured nose and concussion.
At the time of the incident, Dougherty failed to turn on his body-worn camera.
Both Dougherty and the complainant testified at the trial, with the complainant saying he complied with Dougherty’s orders but was taken to the ground and punched.
Dougherty said he feared for his safety during the struggle and he felt delivering the punches was the only option he had available to bring the complainant into compliance.
According to O’Marra’s reasons for decision released this week, the Crown proved beyond a reasonable doubt that there was: “neither a subjective nor an objective basis for concern for safety in the circumstances that officer Dougherty created and found himself in.”
“As his training has taught him, Officer Dougherty was expected to plan, assess, and act,” O’Marra said. “He did not. Officer Dougherty had other options available when determining how to perfect the arrest. Officer Dougherty abandoned his training.”
O’Marra had issues with both Dougherty’s and the complainant’s testimonies, saying the latter had difficulty recalling the details of the incident, but he ultimately found him to be a credible witness.
But O’Marra added there were also inconsistencies between Dougherty’s testimony and his notes from the incident.
He noted specifically that Dougherty’s reluctance to use the word ‘frustrated’ in his testimony was not credible.
“However, he eventually conceded that he was upset and frustrated during cross-examination,” O’Marra said. “His reluctance to admit to this emotion was an effort to distance himself from the inference that when he engaged with [the complainant], that is exactly how he presented and communicated with [the complainant].”
While O’Marra said Dougherty was entitled to arrest the complainant and place him in handcuffs, he did not need to strike him four times while on the ground in the circumstances and he was acting out of frustration.
“I find beyond a reasonable doubt that Officer Dougherty used more force to effect the arrest of [the complainant] than was reasonable, necessary, and proportionate to the circumstances,” he said.
“I do not do so based on hindsight or second-guessing. Instead, I do not doubt that when Officer Dougherty struck [the complainant] four times, he did so out of frustration and annoyance and not out of any genuine concern that striking him was necessary to effect an arrest and to secure his safety.”
Dougherty is still awaiting sentencing. He is currently assigned to administrative duties with the Thunder Bay Police Service.
Dougherty is the second Thunder Bay Police Service officer in the last year to be found guilty of assault causing bodily harm.
Last September, Const. Andrew Frankow was found guilty of the charge for punching an intoxicated Indigenous man in the face inside a bus shelter in April 2022. A sentencing date for Frankow is expected to be set in late November.
