Head-stunning handcuffed woman ‘reasonable’
EDMONTON JOURNAL
EDMONTON - Throwing a handcuffed woman to the pavement where she landed face-first was a reasonable course of action under the circumstances, an Edmonton constable told a police disciplinary hearing today.
Const. Shane Connor testified this afternoon that he was aware that Kristin Wilson was handcuffed and there was no way for her to stop her fall, but “at the time, I wasn’t considering this,” he said.
“Depending on my movements, or her movements, she may have fallen on her shoulder or the side of her head, but instead she fell on her face … In hindsight, I wish that I would have considered that,” he said.
Connor faces two charges of professional misconduct for using inappropriate force and profanity when he arrested Wilson, 21, in the early hours of June 18, 2006, during Stanley Cup playoffs celebrations on Whyte Avenue.
He denies swearing or using inappropriate force.
“I think the actions that I chose were reasonable,” he said, referring to delivering a head stun “to throw her on the ground where I had a tactical advantage.”
In 2006, a Calgary-based Crown prosecutor decided there were no grounds to lay criminal charges against Connor.
Connor testified this morning that he watched partiers collect on Whyte Avenue with a building sense of dread.
In the spring of 2006, he had worked overtime shifts as the Edmonton Oilers got closer to playing for the Cup. On June 17, he was supposed to work a regular shift downtown when he was reassigned to Whyte Avenue.
“Our duties there were to maintain the peace … make sure the crowd was following the rules that they were supposed to,” Connor, now 28, said this morning.
“I can remember feeling very uncomfortable throughout those games, and it seemed to worsen as the games went on. There was this feeling of impending danger, of lack of control, of losing control.”
Wilson was arrested after stepping off a sidewalk on Whyte Avenue. Connor testified that he held her left arm after she was taken into custody and handcuffed.
“She turned to me, even though I hadn’t engaged her in any way,” he said. “She turned to me and said … ‘Let go of me, you’re creeping me out.’
“I said, ‘Listen, you’re under arrest and I’ll maintain control of you.’ … . I’m not sure of my exact words.
“She would be quiet for a couple of seconds and then right away back with the swearing.”
Connor said Wilson suddenly jerked away from him.
“She made a quick jerking motion which broke my grasp of her arm. She took a couple quick steps forward. … I wasn’t sure what her intentions were at that time, whether she was attempting to get away from me or going to assault somebody. I didn’t know what her intentions were.
“I took a step forward and took grasp of her again. … I was trying to say, ‘You don’t run away from me,’ or something. She immediately turned towards me and started talking over my voice, as if she didn’t care what I had to say, and said, ‘Take your f….ing hands off me.’
“At that point I felt this person was out of control, she wasn’t going to respond to any verbal directions.”
Connor said he was worried Wilson might spit at him, or pull away from him again and run into the crowd.
“I used a head stun technique to gain that time (to gain control), then directed her to the ground,” he said. “Unfortunately, her hands were cuffed and she ended up going, her face to the pavement.”
Connor has been an Edmonton police officer since 2003. Prior to that, he was with the RCMP in Rocky Mountain House for a year and a half. He is also a trained emergency medical responder who worked as a paramedic in Morinville for two years.
He said today he never meant to hurt Wilson.
But, given the same set of circumstances today, he would do the same thing, he said, because he was using a technique he was trained to use for controlling a person resisting arrest.
Connor’s testimony continues this afternoon before RCMP Assistant Commissioner Ian Atkins.