Alberta RCMP officer guilty of assault disciplined, but not dismissed

An Alberta RCMP officer who used force and injured a woman during a mental health call will be allowed to keep his job after a police disciplinary hearing.

In a decision Friday, RCMP conduct board member Kevin Harrison imposed financial penalties and a reprimand against Fort Saskatchewan RCMP Const. Sean Avery.

The sanctions stop short of directing the officer to resign over the April 2021 assault against a woman who was in a mental-health crisis. Her identity is protected by a publication ban.

Avery was among the officers who responded to the woman's home to apprehend her under the Mental Health Act, at the request of her doctor.

Harrison found that Avery's four violations of the RCMP code of conduct were established — one related to use of force and three allegations that he included misinformation in his account of what happened.

Earlier in the hearing, Avery acknowledged the force he used was "more than necessary" in the incident.

 He also admitted that he violated the RCMP code of conduct by providing false and misleading information, but contested some of the details of the allegations, maintaining it wasn't intentional. 

Under the disciplinary measures, Avery will have 12 days of pay deducted at a lesser rate of 10 per cent. He's also required to forfeit six days of annual leave.

Avery was suspended with pay shortly after the assault.

The officer pleaded guilty last year to a criminal assault charge.

Harrison repeatedly referred to the judge's sentencing decision in that case, noting the woman he assaulted was vulnerable and in need of protection when police arrived — and instead, she was seriously harmed.

'Startling absence of precedence' for dismissal

Harrison called the assault, which saw Avery slam the handcuffed woman face-first onto a driveway, "disturbing." The incident was captured on video, and the hearing was told the woman needed stitches.

"This decision on conduct measures has been one of my most difficult decisions," Harrison said Friday, adding he was initially prepared to ask Avery to resign.

But Harrison said other conduct decisions in the RCMP K Division, which covers Alberta, haven't resorted to dismissal.

"There is a startling absence of precedence in the RCMP for dismissal as a conduct measure, even in serious cases of excessive use of force."

He pointed to a recent case where Red Deer RCMP Cpl. Kent McDiarmid was convicted of assault for punching an extremely intoxicated man, knocking him unconscious in an RCMP cell block in March 2020.

McDiarmid was handed a 120-day conditional sentence, according to court information.

Harrison said the RCMP conduct hearing in that case happened before the criminal proceedings. In the end, McDiarmid wasn't told to resign.

Harrison said that's despite the conduct authority finding McDiarmid had the opportunity to de-escalate the situation, and the assault was unprovoked.

"When I read the Cpl. McDiarmid decision, I asked myself how I could ask Const. Avery to resign from the force when the conduct authority allowed another member to keep his job in similar circumstances, but with significantly more aggravating factors than this case," he said.

"My answer was I could not ask Const. Avery to resign."

In his decision, Harrison said his assessment of Avery's actions found significant aggravating factors. 

But the officer's demonstration of remorse and willingness to accept responsibility for his actions "weighed heavily in his favour."

He said more than a dozen letters of support for Avery, and an absence of any other discipline on his record, suggest the assault is an isolated incident.