Top court rejects police officer's bid to appeal conviction for assault of First Nations man
Const. James Othen broke ribs and collapsed lung of Clayton Prince during traffic stop
It's the end of the legal road for a Calgary police officer convicted of assault after breaking the ribs and collapsing the lung of a First Nations man during a traffic stop arrest.
On Thursday morning, the Supreme Court of Canada rejected Const. James Othen's bid to have the country's highest court hear his appeal of his convictions in the 2016 arrest of Clayton Prince.
The move aligns with lower courts' decisions over the last 18 months — the Court of Queen's Bench and the Alberta Court of Appeal both refused to overturn Othen's convictions of assault causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon.
In 2018, Othen was convicted for his role in the 2016 arrest of Prince, who is from the Sucker Creek First Nation in northern Alberta and was living in High Level.
Prince was in Calgary for the Chasing Summer music festival with his girlfriend on July 30, 2016, when police pulled him over for a traffic stop in a parking lot in the 6700 block of Macleod Trail.
Instead of complying with the first officer's demands to stay in the car, Prince says he took off because he was paranoid after taking cocaine and marijuana and had been driving without a licence.
The Calgary Police Service began its investigation after dash-cam video from one of the responding cruisers surfaced, showing Othen punching Prince, who had surrendered and was on the ground.
The video is turned off after about eight seconds.
- WATCH | Dash-cam video below of the police officer punching a surrendered suspect. Warning: Video may disturbing for viewers
At first, Prince can be seen hiding in some trees but once more officers respond to the scene, one pulls his service gun and Prince surrenders on the ground with his hands on his head, complying with police demands.
That's when Othen jumped knee-first onto Prince's back and began his attack.
On one of the videos played during the trial, Prince can be heard screaming in pain.
Officer described arrest as 'out of control'
Several police officers testified for the prosecution.
They described the arrest as "out of control" and "extremely excessive."
Othen was sentenced to 90 days in jail to be served on weekends.
He has finished serving his sentence.
Othen is currently relieved from duty without pay and will now face an internal Police Act investigation.
"Now that the court process on his criminal charge is complete, the Police Act's disciplinary process will determine how to address the incident internally," said CPS in a written statement.
"Serious misconduct matters must be addressed through a disciplinary hearing where an independent presiding officer will hear the evidence and decide if any discipline, up to and including dismissal, is appropriate."