Man Alleges Assault By OPP

Police brutality is the wanton use of excessive force, usually physical, but potentially in the form of verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer. Widespread police brutality exists in many countries, even those that prosecute it. It is one of several forms of police misconduct, which include: false arrest, intimidation, racial profiling, political repression, surveillance abuse, sexual abuse and police corruption.

Man Alleges Assault By OPP

Postby Thomas » Wed Feb 03, 2016 7:39 am

A Williamsford man lays charges against veteran Grey County OPP officers.

A Grey County man claims he was roughed up by plain clothes police officers in an incident on December 15th.

Enos Martin of Williamsford was among a group of people who supported raw milk producer Michael Schmidt during a raid on his farm near Durham on October 2nd.

Schmidt and a handful of others were later summoned to appear in court on a charge of obstruct a peace officer, but Martin says he never knew about the charge.

Then in mid-December, Grey County OPP officers executed an arrest warrant and took him to West Grey to be fingerprinted.

Martin says roughly 10 minutes after he was returned to his farm, plain clothes officers showed up in a van, and handcuffed him.

He claims they tightened the handcuffs as much as possible, forced his arms up in the air and generally roughed him up.

Martin says he was in the back of the van for about 15 minutes until the Officers confirmed his story that he had already been fingerprinted, and he was then let go.

Martin says enough is enough and has filed charges against two veteran OPP officers from the Chatsworth detachment.

Those charges are expected to be sworn in Owen Sound court this week.

http://www.98thebeach.ca/news_item.php?NewsID=81759

https://canadiantruths.wordpress.com/20 ... ounty-man/
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Charges against OPP officers withdrawn

Postby Thomas » Sun Mar 13, 2016 2:44 am

OWEN SOUND - A visiting Crown attorney withdrew criminal charges of assault causing bodily harm against two Ontario Provincial Police officers Thursday because he said there was no reasonable prospect of conviction.

The charges were brought privately by Enos Martin, who followed a rarely used pre-enquete court process which put the charges before the court. Martin alleged the officers arrested him and began to transport him to the police station before realizing other police officers had just finished charging him.

During the process of his arrest, Martin alleged, he was injured.

But visiting Crown attorney Michael Carnegie told the court that after intervening in the case and reviewing it, he found both officers Det. Const. Steve Paddon and Const Jillian Serkowney were acting with lawful authority and believed they were executing a “lawful warrant, however mistakenly” on Dec. 14 on Highway 6 in Williamsford.

He also told Ontario Court Justice Julia Morneau that Martin was detained 10 to 12 minutes -- no more than was reasonable -- and no more force was used than necessary, Carnegie said. He said there was a “live and real issue” concerning how Martin's injuries were caused. He didn't elaborate.

Carnegie, who works for the regional Crown office in London, said with those facts there was no reasonable prospect of conviction and so he was “duty-bound” to ask that the charges be withdrawn, which Justice Morneau granted.

In an interview, Carnegie said there is an explanation for why police picked Martin up shortly after other police had charged and released him but he said he couldn't elaborate about that. He said there were processes the public could follow to seek that answer.

Neither police officer was present in the courtroom Thursday morning when the case was called. They were represented by a lawyer who attended on their behalf.

Martin, a Chesley area farmer, was present and sat at the counsel table.

He said in a interview last month that he was one of five people charged by police after a confrontation at the farm of raw milk advocate Michael Schmidt Oct. 2, near Durham. He said there was a warrant out for his arrest since Nov. 18 which he hadn't know about.

“I'm a freedom fighter. I'm a constitutionalist, I believe in natural law and I don't like seeing my neighbours get bothered and harassed,” Martin said when asked about his involvement at the Schmidt farm.

Martin alleges that in December Paddon and Serkowney were dressed in plainclothes when they arrived in a van, told him he was under arrest, cuffed his hands behind his back and “racked my arms up behind my back,” causing “really bad” injury.

“They racked my arms back behind my back, threw me in their minivan and got on their phones and in about 15 minutes and they found out I was telling the truth and then they released me.”

Martin, a married father of four, said he suffered “contusions” on both wrists from the cuffs and “straining” in the shoulders for which he was prescribed anti-inflammatory medication. “I want both officers to lose their badges,” he said.

Charges were laid after Martin swore before a justice of the peace what he alleged happened, then went before another JP in a pre-enquete hearing which determined there were at least some grounds to have process issued and summons the officers to court. Those rare hearings are held behind closed doors.

Martin's obstructing police charge is next before the Ontario Court of Justice in Walkerton April 13.

http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/2016/0 ... -withdrawn
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