Halifax police officer's assault trial marked by testy exchanges

A Halifax Regional Police constable who admits to hitting a homeless man compared the events of a February night in 2018 to responding to a domestic violence situation.

Laurence Gary Basso was in the second day of cross-examination at his trial in Halifax provincial court.

Basso, with 17 years of police experience in Calgary and Halifax, is charged with assault causing bodily harm and mischief after an incident at Metro Turning Point shelter last winter.

The officer was called to the homeless shelter to remove Patrice Simard from the property after he was caught drinking in his bunk in violation of the rules.

Officer refused to take Simard to drunk tank

Simard was sitting outside the shelter on a milk crate when he asked Basso to take him to the police drunk tank, but the officer refused.

The constable said that Simard became defiant at that point and would not leave the property.

Under questioning by senior Crown attorney Sylvia Domaradzki on Tuesday, Basso said he grabbed Simard by the shoulder and swung the man's backpack "side to side" in order to get him moving.

Basso previously characterized it as a "tug of war" over the backpack and denied he was "taunting" Simard.

The officer has testified that Simard punched him first, in the thigh, and to stop Simard from hitting him again, the officer struck back.

Simard had dropped to a "dead weight," according to Basso, and was on his knees. The officer delivered a "hard strike" with the heel of his hand to Simard's face. Medical tests days later showed Simard's nose was broken. The defence has suggested Simard could have fallen and caused the injury to himself.

Prosecutor disputes level of threat to officer

Basso said the hit to Simard was both pre-emptive and reactive. 

Basson and Domaradzki sparred over the level of threat to the officer. Domaradzki suggested it wasn't at the "top level of seriousness."

Basso laughed as he disagreed with her and stated punching a uniformed officer was very serious.

A charge of assaulting a police officer against Simard was dropped.

The prosecutor suggested Basso could have held off, and waited for backup, instead of handling the call by himself.

Basso disagreed that he had options. He said he made a judgment based on the information he had and his perception of the situation.

He compared the situation to a domestic violence call in which an officer would not wait for another member before acting.

Domaradzki seemed to chide him for comparing a call about an unwanted person at a homeless shelter to a domestic violence incident.

Video does not show Basso being hit

The exchange also grew testy when she went through a second-by-second analysis of the physical encounter. The incident was captured on security video.

The officer's strike to Simard was captured on video. The video does not show Simard hitting Basso, but it does show Simard moving his arm. The Crown's theory is that Simard was reaching for his backpack.

Basso insisted that if there was another camera it would show he was struck.

Domaradzki quipped, "That's the million-dollar question." 

Basso testified he had to be ready for the possibility that Simard could have been trained in mixed martial arts and suggested that might be why Simard was on his knees.

Defence lawyer James Giacomantonio vigorously objected to the Crown's extensive questions about how the officer would respond to an escalating encounter.

Judge Laurel Halfpenny-MacQuarrie stated the Crown's questions were fair because police officers are trained to respond to threats of violence according to a use of force scale which changes as a situation intensifies.

The judge told the lawyers that she has worked both as a defence and Crown attorney and has experience in cases involving use of force by police.

Basso will continue his cross-examination on Jan. 24.