Dean Pritchard

A Winnipeg police officer wasn’t infringing on freedom of the press when he seized a photojournalist’s camera at a crime scene, a judge was told Wednesday.

He did what he needed to do during a “fast, fluid and dynamic” sequence of events that put the public in harm’s way, said Josh Weinstein, the officer’s lawyer.

“Police officers are often engaged in very stressful and fast-moving situations and dealing with people who don’t want to deal with them at all,” Weinstein told provincial court Judge Tony Cellitti. “This can make (police) vulnerable to allegations from the public.”

Chris Procaylo, a Winnipeg Sun photographer, filed a complaint with the Law Enforcement Review Agency after a police constable seized his camera following a heated exchange at a Main Street crime scene on Dec. 2, 2017.

A newly released inquest report has made no recommendations in the case of a man who committed suicide while in custody in a Winnipeg police holding room with no video monitoring.

David Norbert, 56, was found hanging by the neck from a shirt he had tied to a ceiling ventilation grate in a holding room at the District 3 station on Hartford Avenue on April 16, 2019.

The station, the oldest in the city, is considered outdated and is set to be replaced.

Norbert was arrested after allegedly assaulting and threatening an ex-roommate earlier in the day. During an intake interview and risk assessment, Norbert told police he had consumed 11 beers in the previous five hours, the inquest report says. Asked if he was suicidal, Norbert laughed and said, “Sometimes, yes, and sometimes no,” before assuring them, “No, of course I’m not.”