Tanner Currie says he was simply placing his hand at his waist after having it freed from a set of cuffs when an officer drove his head into a window at the Sudbury police station, causing the glass to shatter and his neck to ache for weeks afterward.

"I’m thinking he’s just going to take me to a cell, and next thing I know I’m face-first into this window and all I can see are these wires and shattered glass," says the 20-year-old, who was brought into the station in June after being arrested for public drunkenness and resisting arrest.

Currie claims he wasn’t even drunk, and offered to undergo a breathalyzer test, but was denied.

And he says the officer didn’t relent even after his head struck the glass.

"He held me against the window, screaming in my ear," Currie says. "My head was ringing and my ears were ringing and I couldn’t even hear a word, but he was still using his weight to force me up against the window."

The officer in question, Const. Christopher Labreche, would state in a subsequent report that the use of force, which has been captured on video and made available to the media, was required because he feared Currie was reaching for his gun, according to Currie.

To Currie, that is absurd. "He’s three times my size, he’s got me by one hand that is still cuffed, and my free hand is closed in front of my waist," he says. "And there were two other officers watching me."

He remembers Const. Labreche yelling at him to let go of his belt, but insists his hand wasn’t anywhere near the officer’s belt, much less his weapon.

"I’ve never been in trouble with the law," says Currie. "I have a couple of speeding tickets, that’s it."

The young man is now seeking redress through the courts for what he considers mistreatment.

A statement of information seeking charges of aggravated assault and regular assault against Const. Labreche has been filed, says lawyer Trent Falldien, with a hearing scheduled for Jan. 26, at which time a justice of the peace will determine whether to proceed with the case.

"We’re calling it police bullying," says Falldien. "And we are saying he was punched in the face twice (by Labreche) before he even got to the police station."

Currie says he was leaving The Grand nightclub on Elgin Street on June 8 at 2 a.m. when he realized a friend "had just been sucker-punched," and was bleeding from his nose and mouth.

When police arrived to break up the melee, Currie says he calmly pointed out the man who was responsible for striking his friend to Labreche, but was told, "Get out of my bubble."

He says he was asked to empty his pockets, pushed onto the hood of a police vehicle and then struck twice — first on the side of his right temple, then on the right cheekbone.

His friend might have captured the incident on camera, but "the other officer looked at him and said, ‘if you pull out your phone, I’m going to smash it and use it as evidence,’" Currie claims.

While there is no direct proof of the alleged punches, Falldien says he has more than a witness to speak to it. The footage from the police station, which the lawyer obtained through a court application, shows his client "already has a black eye" upon his arrival, he says.

Greater Sudbury Police Chief Paul Pedersen says he can’t speak to the specifics of the case, as the matter is before the courts, but says there is a rigorous process to account for any use of force by police — which can range from an open-hand strike to firing a weapon — as well as an avenue for independent oversight of police actions.

"We are very comfortable as an organization in the transparency that comes with that and very comfortable in being able to defend the use of force and holding our people accountable for the use of force," he says.

Whenever force is used, police are required by law to file a report, says Pedersen, which is "reviewed by supervisors and use-of-force experts."

That was done in this instance, with the determination made internally that the level of force was acceptable under the circumstances.

In a case where someone is seriously injured as a result of a police response, the matter comes under the scrutiny of the Special Investigations Unit, he notes. In this instance, the mandate of the SIU was not invoked.

Members of the public can also file a complaint through the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, an arm’s-length body that manages and oversees all complaints about police in Ontario.

Currie and his family did initially pursue this route, but were disappointed when they learned a staff sergeant in Sudbury would be handling much of the review, says Falldien.

"They also wanted him to sit down in a meeting room with Labreche," says the lawyer. "He felt intimidated and, as you can imagine, didn’t want to be back in a room with that person."

Falldien says he sought an out-of-court settlement before taking the more drastic action of pursuing criminal charges. "As far as I’m concerned that was a peace offer," he says.

The offer — which Chief Pedersen describes as "a non-negotiable financial settlement" in a release issued Thursday — was turned down.

Neither he nor Falldien would specify the amount of the proposed settlement, although the lawyer says he didn’t use the term non-negotiable. "What we said was ‘firm,’" he says.

He also stresses the offer was made "without prejudice, meaning it’s off the record and to be kept between each other. They’re the ones who disclosed it."

After being rammed into the glass window and placed in a cell, Currie says a new pair of officers arrived to check on him. "It was a male and female cop afterwards, and those two were super nice," he says.

The two assessed his condition and took him to the hospital to be checked out before returning him to the station.

"I was with them for most of the night and they were actually really compassionate, and it made it a little better," says Currie.

What didn’t get better was the pain in his neck. "It got worse over the next two weeks, to the point I lost 85% of the rotation," he says. "And even now my thyroid is extremely jumpy. It’s this irritating pain, like a knuckle I need to crack."

The young man, who weighed about 140 pounds at the time of the incident, says the force used against him was excessive and he wants that to be acknowledged.

"I just don’t think it’s right that a police officer is allowed to use physical violence when I’m verbally communicating with him," he says.

He’s not demanding Labreche lose his job, but feels he should be reprimanded.

"I would like for him to at least be reviewed or take another form of training," he says.

jim.moodie@sunmedia.ca