Accused claims RCMP officer kicked him

A former South Okanagan man testified Thursday in a Penticton court room that the Osoyoos RCMP officer who arrested him was violent, aggressive, very loud and swore a lot.

Anthony Chester Bryant, 54, is facing charges including flight from a police officer, willfully resisting or obstructing a police officer and failing to stop when requested by police. His trial for an incident that took place on June 11, 2012 in Oliver, continued this week.

Bryant said he did not know Cst. Ian Patrick McNeil was behind him until he heard a siren. He was close to home so he figured he could pull in his driveway.

As he was making a u-turn, his window and the officer's met, and the accused claims the officer screamed, "pull the f****** vehicle over now."

Bryant then pulled into his driveway, and by the time he got the vehicle stopped, the officer yanked the door open with a gun pointed at his head.

Bryant said he responded by saying, "What are you going to do, shoot me?"

He further testified when he reached down to turn off the vehicle, McNeil grabbed him by his ponytail and started hitting him in the face with his fist.

When Bryant said to stop hitting him, he said the officer grabbed him by his ponytail and pulled him out. And when he hit the ground flat, McNeil started kicking him all over.

The accused said he didn't remember much after being kicked in the face, and his next memory was waking up on a concrete  floor.

At one point he recalled hearing someone scream, "I'm watching you, no reason to be kicking."

Her further denied drinking that day, but admitted to drinking heavily the night before. He did not remember being asked to take a breathalyzer test.

The morning after his arrest he said to McNeil, no animosity and the officer said the same and asked if he needed a ride.

Bryant said his injuries after the incident incuded a swollen eye and injuries to his wrist from the handcuffs.

Another witness for the defence said she heard sirens when she got home from work and saw police cars pull in behind Bryant.

She could hear the police telling someone to get out of the car, and there were two police officers there.

The passenger in the vehicle got out quickly, while Bryant leaned under the dash to turn the vehicle off.

The passenger was made to lie on the ground, and the other officer was yelling at Bryant to get out.

"He said give me a moment and then he was on the ground and I saw an officer kicking him, just the foot going back and forth under the car," she testified.

She got her husband and he yelled, "I'm watching you" and the kicking stopped.

The next time she looked out, Bryant was in the police car, she said.

Crown counsel Nashina Devji said from where the witness was there was no way she could have seen a foot kicking Bryant by looking under the vehicle.

The witness insisted that is what she saw.

McNeil who testified early in the day, denied putting the handcuffs on too tight, swearing during the incident, pulling Bryant's hair or kicking him..

Nor did he hit him in the head several times, he testified.

He treated the incident as high risk, because it did not appear that Bryant was complying, he said.

Defence lawyer Don Skogstad also suggested to McNeil during questioning that he slammed a woman's head down so hard on the hood of a car in a separate incident that it caused her to have a concussion and go to Kelowna General Hospital.

The officer said it was not true he slammed her, but he did hear she went to the hospital.

Skogstad had requested the woman, Fiona Munro, testify on the next date at the end of the first day of the trial. But Judge Gregory Koturbash denied allowing her as a witness on Thursday.