Manitoba RCMP officer appeared frustrated before allegedly assaulting bar patron, court told

The trial of an RCMP officer accused of assaulting a man outside a Thompson, Man., hotel bar opened on Monday with a witness saying the first arriving officer was agitated by police regularly being called to the same establishment. 

“He just said, ‘Why is there no … security here?’ He said, ‘You guys are always calling us,'” Nicole Moorehead, an employee at the North Star Saloon, said about the officer, which his lawyer adamantly denied. 

“He had an attitude.”

Soon thereafter, the officer left the bar, attached to the Thompson Inn, with Brian Halcrow, the subject of the call.

It is alleged Halcrow was later assaulted by RCMP Const. Jeremiah Dumont-Fontaine — who escorted Halcrow out of the bar, court heard — outside the hotel bar on the night of June 6, 2019.

An officer on the scene that night said Dumont-Fontaine punched Halcrow, 50, twice in self-defence after Halcrow tried to hit the officer during an altercation.

Halcrow, who was bloody and beaten, was charged with assaulting a police officer and causing a disturbance while intoxicated. Seven months later, on Jan. 5, 2020, he killed himself.

Differing version of events

A CBC investigation last year into what happened the night of Halcrow’s arrest and in the aftermath found differing versions of events from the RCMP, the Independent Investigative Unit of Manitoba (IIU), which probes serious incidents involving police, and interviews with the man’s family and friends.

A fellow officer initially said Halcrow threw the first punch, then Dumont-Fontaine said instead that a hat struck his “facial area,” and an IIU investigator said the hat did not hit the officer but sailed past him.

The RCMP initially tried to stop an IIU order that required they hand over vital documents written by Dumont-Fontaine, but a court forced them to release one report.

At the Court of King’s Bench Monday in Thompson — a city about 650 kilometres north of Winnipeg — Moorehead recalled the day of the alleged assault when she, working as a bartender, said Halcrow appeared normal as he approached the bar.

However, Moorehead testified, she declined to serve Halcrow any more drinks after his first purchase because he appeared intoxicated and at one point shoved her, so she called the police.

She said the RCMP member appeared frustrated as soon as he entered the hotel bar, urging Moorehead and her manager to bolster nighttime security by also hiring daytime reinforcements.

The bartender testified the officer aggressively hauled Halcrow outside, though she did not witness the alleged assault.

However, defence attorney Lionel Chartrand questioned Moorehead’s credibility in recalling the three-year-old encounter.

He played surveillance video that showed the officer did not touch Halcow, let alone rough him up, as Moorehead testified.

Chartrand said the officer, based on the video, appeared to walk into the bar in a calm manner. The video did not have an audio component to verify what was said.

“Anyone can stand there and act professional, but you don’t hear him talking,” Moorehead replied.

In other testimony, Const. Mark Sterdan testified he walked out of the hotel bar with Dumont-Fontaine, his police partner, and Halcow.

Sterdan said he observed Halcow appearing to pull his arm back and launching forward in the direction of Dumont-Fontaine, but he wasn’t sure what was thrown.

After he was punched, Halcrow was taken to hospital with no recollection of how he got there, he said. 

The court also heard an audio recording of Halcow’s interview with Sarabjit Kaler, the police watchdog’s investigator, in the weeks after the assault. Halcow said he had no recollection of what happened then or afterward, including the jail altercation when he allegedly spit at the police officer.

Sometimes mistaken for being intoxicated: family

Family and friends say Halcrow, a member of Tataskweyak Cree Nation in northern Manitoba, suffered multiple strokes over the last few years that slowed his speech. He was often unsteady on his feet and people mistook him for being intoxicated because of his slurred speech.

Halcrow told the IIU investigator he took a bunch of medicine the day before the alleged assault.

Following the incident, his loved ones say, he became quiet and withdrawn. He was dismayed that he might return to jail if convicted of assaulting a police officer.

Dumont-Fontaine was charged with assault causing bodily harm on Jan. 3, 2020, two days before Halcrow killed himself. Halcrow was unaware of the charges against police before he died.

The trial is scheduled to last most of the week. The Crown is expected to call a use-of-force witness on Tuesday.

If you are thinking of suicide or know someone who is, help is available nationwide by calling the Canada Suicide Prevention Service toll-free at 1-833-456-4566, 24 hours a day, or texting 45645. (The text service is available from 4 p.m. to midnight Eastern time).

If you feel your mental health or the mental health of a loved one is at risk of an immediate crisis, call 911.