By Police1 Staff
A police trainer testified in favor of Victoria police at a public hearing addressing whether an arrest video shows excessive force.
In March 2010, officers took Tyler Archer, 20, into custody for suspected involvement in a fight that broke out at the downtown Social Club, The Edmonton Journal reported.
Lawyers suggested Archer disobeyed police commands when he sat on the ground instead of laying on his stomach to be handcuffed when they went to take him into custody. Archer said he believed officers were trying to help him tend to an injury he sustained in the fight, not arrest him, according to the Vancouver Sun.
Use-of-force instructor Const. Darren Hall, of Vancouver police, wrote a report supporting the officers’ actions, and on Monday told the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner they were justified.
At first, Archer appears to comply with orders from Const. Chris Bowser to get down, Hall said. At that time in the video, another officer pushes him and Bowser kicks him in the side, then delivers knee strikes to his mid-back.
Hall said Archer appears not to comply and to crawl away, which may have prompted a decision to use force to keep him from fleeing.
“He is not putting his hands behind his back and he’s crawling away from police,” Hall said.
Outside police departments have conducted three investigations that cleared the officers of wrongdoing, but adjudicator Ben Casson can recommend discipline if he declares excessive force was used.