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Alberta’s police watchdog is releasing new details on a struggle in which a woman and Edmonton officer were injured, as the latter arrested the former for allegedly throwing rocks at an intersection under two weeks ago.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) says the woman — who was not identified — required hospitalization and unspecified surgery. The officer also needed treatment in hospital and was released the same day.
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Two officers responded on the morning of Oct. 10 after complaints of two people throwing rocks at cars near 97 Street and 127 Avenue. They arrived and found a man and woman who were under the influence of drugs or alcohol, ASIRT said.
The officers arrested the man for public intoxication and put him in their cruiser. While arresting the 38-year-old woman, however, “a struggle occurred, during which she was brought to the ground, suffering an injury that required hospitalization and surgery,” ASIRT said in a Wednesday news release.
ASIRT — which is tasked with investigating cases where people are killed or seriously injured by police — is now probing whether officers used excessive force in the arrest.
Not wearing cameras
The officers involved in the arrest were not wearing body-worn cameras, which the Edmonton Police Service began issuing to some officers in September.
ASIRT, which sometimes takes years to resolve cases, says in cases where body-worn camera footage does exist, it may be able to release more details early on.
“In some situations, ASIRT can provide significant early details due to the presence of body-worn camera video footage or other objective evidence,” the news release said. “Other times, this may not be possible.”
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Those include cases where releasing details may compromise the independent memory of a witness.
“We want to be as transparent as possible as early as possible, without, of course, jeopardizing the further steps we may need to take in an investigation,” ASIRT executive director Michael Ewenson said in an email.
“Body-worn cameras may allow us to provide answers to the public, police, and affected people earlier, but, of course, every investigation is different.”
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