Photo: IIO BC

IIO BC has found two RCMP officers in Penticton accused of an excessively violent arrest in fact acted appropriately.

The Independent Investigations Office of BC has dismissed allegations of an excessively rough arrest in Penticton, finding the RCMP officers involved acted appropriately. 

In May of this year, IIO received a complaint from a man who claimed that during a traffic stop on Aug. 17, 2018 that turned into an arrest, he sustained serious injuries, as well as being kneed while handcuffed and "slammed to the ground." 

He said that when he got out of his vehicle to ask the reason for the traffic stop, he was taken by the arm and marched back to his vehicle, and when he resisted, was told he was under arrest and subsequently slammed to the ground and struck. 

Investigators with IIO spoke to witnesses, reviewed video and audio recordings and the man's medical records. They heard from the first officer on scene that the man had been yelling at him angrily, and refused to go back to his vehicle when told to. 

Dash cam video revealed a second officer arriving, and helping the first officer with the violently struggling and yelling man. The IIO report notes that he was not slammed to the ground, but he and the first officer did fall to the ground more than once as a result of stumbling in the struggle. 

The second officer on scene delivered a knee strike to the man's chest while attempting to control one of his arms. It is after this point that the man was handcuffed, not before as was his claim. 

The man was taken to cells then to hospital where he was diagnosed with two fractured ribs.

IIO concluded that both officers acted lawfully and reasonably, and that the man's refusal to cooperate was what led to violence. 

They also found that the single knee strike to the body was "reasonably necessary and not excessive" in this case, when the officer found a man struggling with a fellow officer on the ground with civilians nearby. 

"The unfortunate reality of this situation is that [the complainant] turned what started as a routine traffic stop into a physical confrontation," the report concludes.

"His decision to leave his car, and then continually refuse to follow directions from a police officer, resulted in force having to be used against him."