Items

• Edmonton Police beat Indigenous man after being stopped because he had no bell on his bike

  On August 27, 2019, EPS Constable Curtis McCargar stopped Elliot McLeod -an Indigenous man- either giving no reason as to why (according to McLeod) or because he did not have a bell on his bicycle (according to McCargar). McLeod gave a false name to the officer and either immediately rode off or did so as McCargar entered the name in his cruisers computer. McCargar then pursued McLeod in his vehicle while radioing for assistance. After catching up, McCargar tackled McLeod and proceeded to punch him in the back of the head several times. By this point Constable Michael Partington had arrived by vehicle and immediately delivered a diving knee strike between McLeod's shoulder blades causing McLeod to scream in pain telling the officers to stop. At no point during this, according to McLeod, eyewitness testimony, and video evidence was he resisting. The two officers then handcuff McLeod and drag him into a police cruiser. McLeod was charged with four offences, including resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer. Police were sent a video of the incident filmed by a bystander, but withheld it from prosecutors for four months following the incident. When the video was disclosed, the charges against McLeod were stayed, and Constable Partington charged and convicted for assault. Cst. Partington was relieved from duty without pay on the day of the arrest, a decision which he appealed for judicial review by the Court of Queen's Bench. His application was dismissed by a judge in 2021.