A judge has ruled in favour of a man who sued two Winnipeg police officers for unlawfully searching his bag and injuring his nose while pulling him from his car at a traffic stop more than four years ago.

Manitoba Justice Lori T. Spivak awarded Rahim Dostmohamed $13,500 in damages in a decision on June 27. He had sought $20,000-$25,000, but Spivak cited other similar cases suggesting that amount was too high given the details of the case.

Dostmohamed happens to be a graphic designer who helped create the Winnipeg police canine unit calendar for 2016.

He sued Const. Jacek Kapka and Patrol Sgt. Kevin Smith in December 2016 in connection with a routine traffic stop almost two years earlier.

Dostmohamed (not pictured) is a graphic designer who helped create the 2016 police canine unit calendar for the Winnipeg Police Service. (Winnipeg Police Service)

Dostmohamed alleged the officers unlawfully searched his bag and slammed his face into the side of his car, causing him to bleed from his nose and mouth for days, when he was pulled from his vehicle in January 2015.

The incident happened one month after he underwent surgery for a deviated septum, which he had to have redone following the incident, Dostmohamed said.

Dostmohamed alleged Kapka was guilty of the assault, while Smith breached his charter rights in searching his bag without justification. Both officers denied an assault occurred and maintained the steps they took were appropriate given the circumstances.

Vehicle slid through stop

On Jan. 7, 2015, Dostmohamed said, he was driving his father's car when he slid through a slippery intersection due to poor road conditions from snowfall the night before.

Const. Kapka said he saw the vehicle go through the intersection without stopping and continue down a nearby street and back lane well after he had switched on the sirens and police light in the cruiser car.

He said it seemed the driver was trying to evade police, but Dostmohamed said he was trying to find a good place to park because snow hadn't been cleared from roads in the area.

After pulling him over, Kapka asked Dostmohamed for his licence but he didn't have it on him.

Kapka pulled him from the car, turned him around and "slammed his face into the car," hurting his nose which was sensitive from a surgery only weeks earlier, Dostmohamed alleged.

Differing accounts

Kapka had a different account of what happened.

He said Dostmohamed exited his vehicle on his own and he did a pat-down before putting him in the back of the cruiser.

"Constable Kapka explained that since the plaintiff could not be identified, appeared to have been evading him and did not own the vehicle, he asked him to step out of the car and detained him to confirm his identity," the judge's decision states.

He denied pushing Dostmohamed's face into the car and using force of any kind. "He merely placed his hand on the plaintiff's arm."

Dostmohamed received a call from his brother while in the cruiser. He told him about what happened and asked his brother to bring him his licence. His brother confirmed the call took place and that Dostmohamed said he was injured.

Kapka also heard Dostmohamed allege an assault had occurred, which is why he called in Smith.

Bag search

Dostmohamed's brother and Smith each showed up at the scene. That's when, Dostmohamed claims, Smith grabbed the bag from his brother and started to search it against the pair's wishes, handing the wallet over to Kapka. The police maintained the brother handed the bag to officers.

Dostmohamed said he continued to object to the search, and Smith threatened to take him to jail if he didn't quiet down. The brother testified to seeing this unfold, too.

"Patrol Sergeant Smith denied threatening to take the plaintiff to jail, but told him that as he was uncuffed in a warm police car and had been treated very well, if he did not like the treatment in the car, he could be placed outside and handcuffed," the decision reads.

Evidence of injury

Smith said Dostmohamed wasn't bleeding from his nose so he assumed he was lying about the injury.

The officers let the men go not long after seeing the licence, issuing Dostmohamed two tickets in the process.

A doctor who examined him at an emergency room later that day said his nose appeared to be fractured. The surgeon who performed the initial septum surgery later noted changes to Dostmohamed's nose that weren't there after the procedure.

Spivak found Dostmohamed's account was more consistent and credible than those of police.

She concluded that Dostmohamed was assaulted when he was pulled from his vehicle, though she couldn't be sure Kapka intended to injure Dostmohamed.

She ruled Dostmohamed's injuries were corroborated by medical evidence, and she found police weren't justified in searching his bag.