Assault charge stayed against Mountie who kneeled on suspect’s neck By: Dean Pritchard Posted: 6:23 PM CST Monday, Nov. 20, 2023

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This article was published 20/11/2023 (1040 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Justice officials have stayed an assault charge against a Manitoba Mountie who was arrested after cellphone video showed him pinning his knee on a suspect’s neck for four minutes as the man pleaded he could not breathe.

Const. Eric Gerein was charged with assault in August 2022 — one year after cellphone video of the August 2019 incident at Winnipeg’s Richardson International Airport surfaced at a trial for Alberta resident Nathan Lasuik.

Crown attorney Rustyn Ullrich formally stayed the charge against Gerein on Nov. 3, telling provincial court Judge Brent Stewart after an “extensive review” of the facts, prosecutors believed there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction.

Police “must be held to the highest standards,” Ullrich said. “When police conduct falls short of these standards, it is in the public interest that they be held accountable for any criminal misconduct.

“Similarly, the Crown is bound by its charging and prosecutorial standards,” he added. “In addition, to the significant public interest in such proceedings, there must always be a reasonable likelihood of holding officers accountable for their misconduct.”

The decision to stay the assault charge against Gerein, where there was “compelling” video evidence to support it, “cries out” for a detailed explanation, said University of Manitoba law Prof. Brandon Trask.

“This has been an ongoing issue, in Manitoba especially, where the Crown decides they have insufficient evidence, oftentimes the explanation provided on the record for dropping or staying the charges is lacking,” Trask said Monday.

“It would be great if the Crown could put more information on the record in order to ensure transparency.”

The case is another example why prosecutions of police officers should be assigned to private bar lawyers or prosecutors from outside Manitoba, Trask added.

“Not necessarily because of an actual conflict of interest but because of the public perception,” he said. “That, combined with the bareboned explanation for staying the charges here, raises some major questions from members of the public who are just seeing this in the media — and they frankly deserve answers.”

A judge’s finding Lasuik was the initial aggressor and his testimony was not credible “all underpin the Crown’s conclusion that there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction,” a provincial government spokesperson said in an email late Monday afternoon.

Lasuik, 44, admitted to assaulting two police officers (one of them Gerein) and another man outside the airport in August 2019, but argued at trial police used excessive force against him, violating his charter rights.

Provincial court Judge Dave Mann ruled the officers did violate Lasuik’s charter rights and granted him a conditional discharge that included one year of supervised probation.

Lasuik testified at trial he had been drinking heavily prior to his flight landing, as he was an anxious flyer and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Airport security video played in court at trial showed Lasuik getting into a verbal dispute with a man outside the terminal and then assaulting him.

Minutes later, after police arrived to investigate, Lasuik struck Gerein in the face before retreating to his father’s waiting car. After Gerein and Const. Slobodan Dukic pulled Lasuik from the car, Lasuik kicked Gerein in the groin and the two officers took him to the ground.

A cellphone video recorded by Lasuik’s father and provided to court showed Gerein pinning the side of Lasuik’s neck to the ground with his knee, while Dukic pinned his midsection and an airport manager held his legs. Lasuik’s hands were cuffed in front of him and underneath his body.

“I’m gonna die,” Lasuik can be heard screaming on the video. “Let me breathe.”

“You’re breathing,” Gerein shouted in response. “When you’re talking, you’re breathing.”

Gerein’s knee remained on top of Lasuik’s neck for at least four minutes before Winnipeg police arrived and the suspect was taken into custody.

A police use-of-force expert testified at trial there was no acceptable reason for Gerein to have put his knee on Lasuik’s neck.

“I don’t know of any training that officers are trained to go across the neck,” said Sgt. Kelly Keith of the Ste. Anne Police Service. “Since 1988, I have not been taught or shown a technique to go across the neck… It’s a dangerous area. The risk of injury is much higher.”

Gerein testified he put his knee underneath Lasuik’s shoulder blades, as he was trained. Shown the cellphone video, Gerein said his knee must have “rolled” onto Lasuik’s neck as he struggled.

After learning about the cellphone video, via a Free Press report, the RCMP referred the matter to police watchdog Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba.

“I found the video very disturbing. Hearing a man clearly informing police officers that he cannot breathe is all too present in our collective consciousness,” Manitoba RCMP assistant commissioner Jane MacLatchy said in a written statement in August 2021.

“Let me be very clear: the RCMP does not teach nor endorse any technique where RCMP officers place a knee on the head or neck.”

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca