THUNDER BAY — A Thunder Bay police officer convicted of assault is now facing a $1.55 million lawsuit.
Thunder Bay Police Service Const. Ryan Dougherty and the Thunder Bay Police Service Board have been named in the lawsuit, which was filed in November of last year in Ottawa.
Dougherty was found guilty on Sept. 24, 2024 of assault causing bodily harm in the incident and was sentenced last week to a suspended sentence of one-year probation and 100 hours of community service.
The plaintiff, a 60-year-old male, had been at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre in the early morning of Nov. 8, 2022 after police escorted him to the hospital under the mental health act.
The plaintiff left the hospital, without being discharged or without anyone telling him he couldn’t leave, and began to walk home down Oliver Road.
Dougherty was at the hospital on an unrelated matter and was asked by hospital staff to look for the man after it was discovered he had left. The constable quickly caught up with the plaintiff along Oliver Road and attempted to detain him to return him to the hospital.
A struggle ensued and the officer struck the plaintiff a total of four times in the head with a closed fist. The plaintiff suffered a concussion and a fractured nose.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiff is claiming $250,000 in general damages, $500,000 in damages for loss of income, $150,000 for future care costs, $50,000 in special damages, and $250,000 in punitive damages. His wife is claiming $100,000 in damages under the Family Law Act and $250,000 for loss of income.
The claim alleges Dougherty committed assault and battery on the plaintiff and used excessive force and that the incident was related to a false arrest and false imprisonment as there was no basis in law to detain the plaintiff.
The claim alleges the police board was negligent as it failed to “have any system in place whereby it would become aware of any and all instances where it had been determined by a court that (Const.) Dougherty or any other TBPS officer had used excessive force or violated an individual’s rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”
Therefore the board “failed to identify a systemic problem within the TBPS which required it to implement guidelines and/or policies to prevent any further charter violations thereby allowing the violations in this case to occur.”
The plaintiffs argue in the statement of claim the actions or omissions of the defendants deprived the plaintiff of his rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, specifically his right to life, liberty and security of the person and his right to not be arbitrarily detained.
In addition to the physical injuries sustained by the plaintiff, the claim says he also has psychological injuries such as severe anxiety and an exacerbation of pre-existing depression and complex post-traumatic stress disorder.
“(The plaintiff) is now regularly preoccupied with thoughts and emotions concerning the assault, causing him to experience an immense amount of anxiety, fear and distress, especially concerning the police,” the document reads. “The fear which (he) experiences regarding the police is so great that he has become extremely isolated and rarely leaves his home, fearing that he may be assaulted again without any reason, solely because of his race.”
The allegations in the statement of claim have not been proven in court.
