Man acquitted of assaulting officer with water bottle at Halifax housing protest | 24CA News
A choose has acquitted a person accused of throwing a bottle at police throughout a Halifax housing protest in one of many first choices from a collection of trials associated to the 2021 demonstration.
Judge Gregory Lenehan discovered Robert John Newell not responsible on Monday of assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest, in reference to the protest throughout which a number of hundred individuals tried to cease the demolition of homeless shelters.
Police arrested about two dozen demonstrators and pepper-sprayed a number of individuals as a chaotic scene erupted on Aug. 18, 2021, when municipal employees tried to remove the shelters that had been erected in entrance of the previous Halifax public library.
Lenehan mentioned in Halifax provincial courtroom he wasn’t “certain of the identification” of Newell because the individual seen in a video recording throwing a water bottle at a police sergeant, or because the individual fighting a constable throughout an tried arrest.
The choose famous a variety of issues with the police identification of Newell, saying the arresting officer’s process of a single photograph of Newell from a police database to determine him because the bottle thrower wasn’t enough.
Lenehan mentioned the officer had obtained pepper spray in his eyes as he had arrested Newell, including that the officer couldn’t correctly see who he had detained and transferred to a colleague.
The arresting officer by no means requested the detainee his identify, counting on a colleague’s account after which trying up the person on the police database, the choose mentioned. Lenehan mentioned it’s “not acceptable” for a police officer to make use of a single picture from a police database to determine somebody; the arresting officer, the choose added, ought to have checked out “an array of photos” to pick the suspect.
“That identification is flawed,” Lenehan mentioned. “It is no more acceptable for a police officer to look at a single suggested photo identifying a subject than it is to provide a civilian witness with a single photo for the same purpose.”
Lenehan added that the police witness had mentioned Newell had a black service canine with him when the bottle throwing occurred, however the choose mentioned the video exhibits that the individual with a black canine “wasn’t the one who hurled the bottle.”
“I’m concerned that some of the officer’s testimony may have been influenced by his review of the video recordings and perhaps discussions with other officers, and details may have been added that his own memory could not provide,” he mentioned.
The choose mentioned he couldn’t be sure from the video photos that the individual sitting earlier than him within the courtroom was the bottle thrower.
Joshua Nodelman, a authorized assist lawyer who represented Newell, mentioned in an interview that for a felony offence to be proved in courtroom, “it must be done on the basis of evidence that is reliable, that is receivable and that is not hearsay.”
“I think the judge conducted the correct analysis of the evidence that was before him and delivered an appropriate and reasonable decision.” Another defence lawyer, Asaf Rashid, is representing 4 individuals going through varied prices in relation to the demonstration, with two instances now underway.
One of his purchasers is disputing the police interpretation of video proof that she intentionally kicked constables throughout her arrest.
Halifax’s board of police commissioners has mandated a Toronto legislation agency to conduct an impartial civilian evaluate of the police response to the 2021 protest; that evaluate is anticipated by May 31, 2024.
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed June 8, 2023.
© 2023 The Canadian Press
