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Edmonton police have failed in a bid to dismiss a lawsuit from a man who claims the service covered up his assault at the hands of police.

A court decision issued Wednesday sided with Kazimierz Kozina in his long-running, $1-million lawsuit against the police service. Two of the 10 defendants — former chiefs Michael Boyd and Rod Knecht — had asked the court to dismiss Kozina’s claims, but court Master L.A. Smart found there was no basis to do so.

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Kozina’s lawyer, Tom Engel, said the decision is good news for his client, but that there’s still a “long, long way to go.”

“What this means now is that that particular impediment is cleared away, and we can proceed with the action,” Engel said.

Alleged assault

Kozina alleges he was assaulted by officers during a “buy-and-bust” arrest on Feb. 11, 2010. He suffered a broken eye socket and spinal injuries.

In a lawsuit filed in September 2015, Kozina claims police “covered up” the incident and failed to disclose brutality allegations made by a police witness to the CBC.