SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - An RCMP officer accused of using undue force against a prisoner in a detachment cell area was found not guilty of assault causing bodily harm in territorial court on Thursday.

Const. Jason Muzzerall stands outside the Yellowknife courthouse after he was found not guilty in territorial court on Thursday of assaulting a prisoner at the city's detachment. - Ian Vaydik/NNSL photo

Const. Jason Muzzerall was accused of assaulting a prisoner, causing a cut on his head at about 1 a.m. on April 18 in the Yellowknife RCMP detachment. A video was repeatedly played during the trial of the complainant falling on the concrete floor while handcuffed. The fall left a spot of blood on the floor where his head landed while Muzzerall tried to steer him in the booking area of the detachment.

"I do not think Mr. Muzzerall caused ... without reason, (the complainant's) fall," said Judge Bernadette Schmaltz as she gave her decision. She added she was not sure if Muzzerall threw him to the ground, but in reviewing the tape frame-by-frame it appears the complainant's feet got tangled up and he fell.

After the decision, Muzzerall told media he was relieved the ordeal was over and is happy to move past the case and get on with his life.

"It was an enormous amount of stress," said Muzzerall.

Crown prosecutor David McWhinnie called three RCMP officers and the complainant as witnesses. All three RCMP testified the complainant was being resistant and unco-operative, using his size - six-foot-five and 280 pounds - against the smaller Muzzerall to make the arrest troublesome. The officers did not take notes during the incident, though they did for other incidents before and after the one in question on that night.

McWhinnie had said during an earlier court date the officers declined to give statements when first asked, but the RCMP on the stand said they thought reports they filed a week later, before the complaint was made, as well as the video evidence were sufficient.

The complainant took the stand and said he'd had a total of 25 drinks that night and did not remember the incident on the video, but in looking at it he admitted it appeared his feet got tangled up and he fell.

Since the complaint was lodged, the complainant had claimed the 2009 assault he remembered took place in the cell and not in the booking area. He asked why they were not showing video of what happened inside the cell.

McWhinnie told the court an RCMP officer, whose name he did not disclose, reviewed all the video footage of the incident that night and selected the only video he thought was relevant, which was of the cell-block. The video of the complainant being brought into his cell was not selected by the officer, and, as per RCMP policy, the video was deleted six months after being recorded.

The only evidence given for the allegations of an assault in the cell was that of the complainant's testimony, who admitted he was drunk and subsequently his memory of that night was affected. Schmaltz said she could not take his testimony as fact and the three other RCMP members testified nothing happened in the cell other than the complainant being stripped down to one layer of clothes, which they do to everyone taken into custody.

Sgt. Brad Kaeding told Yellowknifer after the trial he wished the video was kept to clear up these allegations.

"The officer said there was nothing there (in the video)," said Kaeding. "Our policies have changed," he said, adding in the event of a complaint lodged now, "all camera angles will be preserved."

Kaeding said he hopes the public will take the judge's decision to heart, and said there was "no ill intent" in the additional video not being provided.

The complainant's father told Yellowknifer he was disappointed to find out the video was not available and would therefore not be used as evidence, citing from the beginning his son always maintained the assault happened in the cells. He said he was happy with the way his son handled the situation.

"I'm glad he at least brought it forth," he said.

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