2 senior Brandon officers charged with obstruction, put on paid leave

Two veteran Brandon police officers face obstruction charges in connection with a bar brawl that took place in the western Manitoba city in 2014.

Deputy chief Danny Smyth of the Winnipeg Police Service says provincial justice officials asked the force to conduct an investigation after a man alleged that he had been assaulted by a Brandon Police Service officer at a local bar in November 2014.

Members of the WPS Professional Standards Unit investigated the claims beginning in January 2015 and sent their findings on to Manitoba Prosecutions in January of this year.

On Thursday, two 20-year members of the Brandon Police Service were charged:

• Sgt. Dallas Lockhart was charged with one count of attempting to obstruct justice and one count of obstructing a police officer.
• Const. Shane Stephenson was charged with one count of obstructing justice.

Both officers were put on paid administrative leave and are scheduled to appear in court in Brandon at a later date.

The conduct of the officers was brought into question in connection with two separate assault investigations — one from July 2014, the other from November 2014.

Stephenson had been assigned to both cases. One of two men taken into police custody in November was also involved in the July investigation, police said.

Lockhart's charges are only related to the November investigation. Smyth said Lockhart was off-duty when he allegedly "intervened into a matter involving two adult males that had been in the custody of other Brandon police officers."

Those officers — Stephenson and two other members of the Brandon Police Service — were looking into reports of an assault and a disturbance complaint that took place at a hotel and bar in Brandon. The two men who were in custody at the time were connected to those complaints, Smyth said.

Smyth added that the Brandon Police Service has co-operated with the investigation into the two officers.

In a statement, Brandon police said the person who came forward with the assault complaint "had a family relationship with another Brandon Police Service member."

The Independent Investigation Unit, which investigates all serious on- and off-duty incidents involving police officers in Manitoba, had not been formed at the time, which is why Winnipeg police were asked to step in and perform the review, Smyth said.