Edmonton police officer not guilty of assault in arrest where he hit man with baton
Jury acquitted Const. Alexander Doduk of two assault charges after a seven-day trial
An Edmonton police officer has been acquitted on assault charges from an arrest where he punched and kneed a man, then hit him multiple times with his police baton.
The jury found Const. Alexander Doduk not guilty on charges of assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm on Wednesday afternoon, the day after they started deliberations.
The reasons for jury decisions and the details of the discussions are secret.
After hearing the verdict, Doduk stood up to hug his wife and other supporters watching from the gallery.
An Edmonton Police Service spokesperson said Wednesday that Doduk is currently on duty in a "non-operational role."
"As with any matter involving an officer that has gone through the criminal process, this will proceed to a Police Service Regulation investigation once criminal proceedings have concluded. That process remains consistent regardless of the outcome of the criminal proceedings," the spokesperson told CBC News.
The officer was accused of using excessive force against Justin LaFrance on the morning of Nov. 26, 2019. A security camera from the Royal Alberta Museum captured clear footage of the majority of the encounter.
LaFrance testified that he waved to the officer for help at the intersection of 97th Street and 103A Avenue, as he pursued a man he suspected of breaking a window at his nearby work site.
LaFrance said instead of trying to understand what was going on, Doduk aggressively took the other man to the ground.
LaFrance told the court he was trying to tell the officer to ease up, and that he might have the wrong guy, when Doduk suddenly, and without explanation, turned the physical force on him.
According to LaFrance, he can't remember what happened from the time the first strike came to when he was lying face down on the road being arrested by several officers. The charges laid against him that day were later withdrawn.
Doduk described the events differently, saying LaFrance was angry and agitated, yelling about the broken window, which led to the officer arresting the man LaFrance had been following for mischief.
Doduk said LaFrance shoved his shoulder as he was handcuffing that man, so he stood up and told him he was under arrest for assaulting a police officer and obstruction — that, Doduk testified, started a struggle between them where LaFrance hit him in the face.
The officer told the court that he had to use force to get control of the situation as LaFrance continued to resist arrest, evading his attempts to put his hand behind his back, then grabbing his duty belt and the right sleeve of his jacket despite commands to let go.
When punching and kneeing LaFrance didn't work to get him to comply, Doduk said, he used his baton, striking LaFrance eight times.
He was left with a broken nose, a chipped tooth and bruises on his arm and ribs, and he told the jury he suffers from PTSD due to what happened to him.
Doduk is the second Edmonton police officer to be found not guilty of assault charges in recent weeks.
In May, a jury acquitted former EPS Const Oli Olason, who was accused of assault during a 2021 arrest that was also caught on camera.
The assault charges against Doduk were laid in 2023 after an Alberta Serious Response Team (ASIRT) investigation.
The jury wasn't told about another ASIRT investigation Doduk faced in a fatal shooting less than two years after the arrest where he injured LaFrance.
Documents filed in a civil lawsuit identify Doduk as the officer who shot 33-year-old Steven Nguyen on the night of June 5, 2021.
According to the ASIRT investigation, the officer wrote in his police report that he believed Nguyen was holding a gun — it was actually a cellphone, and Nguyen was unarmed.
The ASIRT investigation concluded there were reasonable grounds to consider a culpable homicide charge against Doduk, but the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service didn't proceed with a case, with a spokesperson saying while the constable was mistaken, "the action taken could not be proved to be criminal."
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