The four days set aside for a hearing in April have been vacated

A professional disciplinary hearing for the Guelph Police Officer found guilty of assaulting a teenager handcuffed to a hospital bed has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Const. Corey McArthur faces one count of discreditable conduct under the Police Services Act after he pleaded guilty to a 2016 assault in criminal court in September.

He was scheduled to face a hearing on April 7 and 8, with much of those two days expected for counsel on both sides to present medical evidence. On April 22 and 23, the hearing was scheduled to continue with submissions from defence and prosecution.

On a conference call on Wednesday it was decided the April dates should be vacated because of COVID-19 and the state of emergency declared in the province.

Another conference call has been scheduled for April 23 to consider new dates for the hearing.

McArthur pleaded guilty to simple assault during a criminal trial in September of 2018 after an incident at Guelph General Hospital was caught on tape. In the video, McArthur can be seen slamming his elbow into a 17-year-old male who was handcuffed to a hospital bed.

The teenager, who can’t be identified because of a court order, had been sent to hospital on a mental health call and had threatened to harm himself.

The blow came shortly after the teenager struck McArthur in the mid-section with his knee.

McArthur’s lawyer argued in court that the officer — at the time a 17-year-veteran of the Guelph Police Service — was suffering from undiagnosed and untreated post traumatic stress disorder at the time of the incident, stemming primarily from the death of Const. Jennifer Kovach in 2013.

After pleading guilty in the 2018 criminal trial, McArthur was placed on a three-year probation and ordered to do 240 hours of community service. McArthur does not have a criminal record as a result of the sentence.

McArthur was formally diagnosed with PTSD prior to his criminal trial.

The current hearing is only considering his 2016 assault. McArthur faced assault charges on two other occasions, in 2010 and 2014.

He was found guilty in 2010 and given an unconditional discharge and in 2014 was charged with assault causing bodily harm, a charge that was later withdrawn.