Brandon police officer charged with assault

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This article was published 01/03/2024 (652 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Brandon Police Service officer has been charged with assault and theft after the provincial police watchdog concluded its investigation into his interactions with two men last fall.

The officer allegedly grabbed a man and forced him onto the hood of a police car and knocked a cellphone out of the hands of another male and onto the ground on Sept. 3, 2023. The officer allegedly picked up the phone and took it.

“Following the completion of the investigation, the civilian director determined that criminal code charges should be laid against the officer,” the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba said in a news release Friday.

BPS officer Const. Darwin Raga, who has been with the service for 20 years, has been charged with two counts of assault and one count of theft under $5,000, the IIU said. He was released on a summons Monday.

The IIU wasn’t notified about the incident on Oct. 18. The IIU said that month that the police service told the civilian director an officer went to the 700 block of 9th Street regarding a report of loud music at 4:41 p.m.

“Upon arrival, officers met with several people onsite and an encounter occurred,” the Oct. 20 news release states. “Later that day, a group of individuals attended the BPS station to make a complaint about the conduct of the officers who attended the call for service.”

A 51-second video of the incident was shared with the Brandon Sun last year. It shows that after the officers released the man pushed against the police cruiser, one approached the person recording the incident and told them to get back in their house.

“Get your music out of here,” the officer said before shouting, “Get in the house!” and he appeared to slap the phone away.

The anonymous source who shared the video said police took the phone and that he went to the police station with the young men involved in the incident. The source said they got the phone back and showed the video to the staff sergeant on duty.

Brandon’s acting police chief told the Sun in October he had not seen the video until the newspaper showed it to him and that he then notified the IIU.

Following Friday’s announcement that charges had been laid, the police service said Raga had been reassigned to a “non-operational role” that doesn’t involve conducting patrols.

The case is scheduled to appear in Brandon court on April 11.

— Staff, with Brandon Sun files