Eliot McLeod informed The Edmonton Provincial Court last Monday that he went into panic mode as officer repeatedly pummeled him, even after they had managed to subdue him with cuffs.
He spoke on the first day of his case before a judge-only proceeding against Police officer Michael Partington. The officer is looking at assault charges that relate to an incident that occurred on in august, 2019.
The complainant noted that he was on his bike riding along a sidewalk on an inner-city street which is when a police cruise pulled up alongside him and the police asked to know his name. He gave out a fake name and then fled the scene.
The police cruiser mounted the curb in front of McLeod causing him to fly off the bike and onto the front lawn of a home. He added that he was face down when an officer, Curtis McCargar, jumped and punched him between 4 and 8 times at the back of his head.
McLeod said the officer place him at the back of the police cruiser, accused him of spitting on his person, then took him out of the cruiser and started punching him while he had cuffs on.
A moment later, another cruiser arrived, and that is when a resident of the area, Tyler Eaglespeaker, started recording the commotion from his home.
In one footage, another officer, Partington, is seen briskly walking up and then driving the knee into McLeod’s back.
Another officer is heard telling McLeod not to run from officers.
Another scene in the footage shows the two getting McLeod to his feet while handcuffed, then McCargar is seen punching him at the back of the neck before they shove him into the back of the cruiser.
The defence poked holes at the complainant’s testimony, but failed to challenge the fact that the accused had kneed McLeod.
Initially, police charged him with resisting arrest and mumbling death threats, and noted that before this court case, the police had offered him three months in jail, a deal that his lawyer advised him to consider.
He refused, noting that he was innocent. The charges disappeared, eventually.
Alberta’s Crown Prosecution recommended that Partington face a criminal charge on the 12th of June, a little under a week after the footage surfaced. McCargar wasn’t charged.
