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This article was published 31/5/2019 (484 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The province's police watchdog has launched an investigation in the wake of a court ruling awarding $95,000 in damages to a family assaulted by city police at a Winnipeg hotel.

Officers, responding to a disturbance complaint, entered the family’s hotel room without lawful cause and later "backfilled" their version of events in police reports and court testimony to justify their "egregious conduct," Queen’s Bench Justice Jeffrey Harris wrote in a ruling dated May 27.

"Once in the room, their conduct was malicious and high-handed," Harris wrote. "It offends the court’s sense of decency, and must be deterred and punished."

“Once in the room, their conduct was malicious and high–handed... It offends the court’s sense of decency, and must be deterred and punished.” –Queen’s Bench Justice Jeffrey Harris

According to court documents, Ola and Andrew Beaulieu, their two teenage children and a family friend were staying at the Clarion Hotel on Dec. 26, 2014, when police officers investigating a disturbance complaint "entered their hotel room... (without) a warrant to do so."

Once inside "a number of physical altercations occurred between the Beaulieus and the WPS officers," ending with Ola, Andrew and 18-year-old daughter Kyra being charged with assaulting a police officer and other offences.

Officers testified they had grounds to enter the hotel room because they were concerned about the safety of minors inside. They told court Andrew Beaulieu assumed "an aggressive stance" when he answered the door and raised his fists, telling officers they were "making a big f---ing mistake."

Excerpts from the judgment Click to Expand "The WPS officers provided a version of events to the court which they hoped would justify their unlawful entry into the hotel room and provide a cover for their actions after that entry. Having demonstrated a willingness to mislead the court on this issue, I approach the balance of their evidence with caution, especially where it differs from that of the plaintiffs." "I am satisfied that by charging Ola with assaulting a WPS officer, Const. Macumber engaged in a deliberate and improper use of his office... I am satisfied that Const. Macumber laid the charge against Ola in order to conceal his unlawful attack on her and to support the narrative that was developed to justify the unlawful entry into the Beaulieus' hotel room." "It is impossible to understand how [Const. Macumber] considered the level of force used against Ola appropriate. Even if Const. Macumber was acting in the course of police duties, his assault of Ola goes beyond what could be considered within a reasonable range."

Once inside, the occupants yelled and swore at officers, and charged at them with cellphones, demanding their badge numbers, officers testified.

The Beaulieus described a very different scene, telling court they had been alerted by hotel staff about the disturbance complaint and waited quietly for police to arrive.

Ola Beaulieu said it was she who opened the door to police, after which the four officers walked into the room.

Kyra began recording the event on her cellphone. The 10-second video shows Andrew Beaulieu standing passively with his hands on a kitchen counter, talking "in a firm but non-aggressive voice."

Ola Beaulieu is seen standing to the left of the door, "where she would have been standing if she had opened the door, as she said she did," Harris wrote.

"There were no occupants yelling at the WPS officers, grabbing cellphones, and charging toward them, putting cellphones in their faces and demanding badge numbers... The video contradicts in a material and substantive way the evidence given by the defendants as to what met them as they entered the room. The chaos that they described to the court simply did not exist."

The video ends with Winnipeg Police Service Const. J. Macumber, the lone officer identified as a defendant in the case, walking toward Kyra and seizing her cellphone.

Another video recorded by family friend Cheyenne Mills on her iPad shows Macumber swinging his arm at Kyra, pushing her onto a table.

Macumber testified he was defending himself after Kyra had struck him on the arm. Kyra denied hitting Macumber, telling court she stepped in to prevent him from taking Cheyenne’s iPad.

Harris ruled Macumber and the other officers were intruders in the room, meaning Kyra was justified in acting as she did.

Ola Beaulieu testified she ran toward Macumber after he shoved Kyra. She said Macumber punched her in the face two to four times, causing her to lose consciousness.

Harris rejected Macumber’s claim Ola Beaulieu punched him first, saying a picture tendered as evidence at trial showed no evidence he had been injured.

"As Const. Macumber was an intruder, Ola was justified in taking the actions that she did and would have been justified, in the circumstances, had she struck Const. Macumber as he alleges," Harris wrote.

“The civilian director (of IIU) has determined that public interest demands an independent investigation be conducted.” –IIU release

When Andrew Beaulieu tried to intervene in the assault on his wife, other officers took him to the floor and subdued him with knee strikes to his thigh.

Harris rejected Andrew Beaulieu’s claim police punched him 160 times after he was handcuffed, finding his memory "questionable" given his alcohol consumption that night.

"However, both Ola and (one of her children) testified that they witnessed the WPS officers punching Andrew," Harris wrote. "The photos of Andrew’s injuries produced as exhibits at trial are consistent with a struggle to apply handcuffs."

The Winnipeg Police Service advised the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba of the decision Thursday.

"In that judgment... a variety of circumstances were outlined by the trial judge that raised allegations of misleading justice and use of excessive force against a number of WPS officers," the IIU said in a release Friday.

"The civilian director has determined that public interest demands an independent investigation be conducted."

Download Judgment: Beaulieu vs. City of Winnipeg

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca