Alberta Mountie guilty of assault in 2023 arrest: judge

File photo of two RCMP cruisers blocking an intersection.

An Alberta RCMP officer has been found guilty of assault causing bodily harm after kicking a man in the mouth while he was handcuffed on the ground.

Cpl. Bruce Andre Lussier was accused of assault by Logan Davis, a man who was arrested in the Thorsby area by Lussier and two other officers on May 9. 2023.

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According to the evidence outlined in the judge’s reasons for decision, two other officers arrested Davis after a “high-risk getaway” that ended in a single-vehicle rollover.

The court documents say Lussier arrived after Davis was handcuffed; he approached him and the two began arguing and swearing at each other before Lussier kicked Davis in the mouth.

The kick broke one of Davis' front teeth and pushed other teeth through his lip, lacerating it.

While one officer testified to seeing Lussier kick Davis in the mouth, causing those injuries, the judge found inconsistencies in the testimony of Lussier and the other officer.

They included:

• Lussier’s police report that included a “nudge” to the face, but no kick;
• Lussier’s later testimony that he did kick Davis, but not in the face; and
• what the judge called “suspicious and vague” testimony from the other officer.

“The Crown has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that on May 9, 2023, Cpl. Lussier arrived at a scene of an active arrest, found the complaint prone, handcuffed, and subdued under the control of two other officers.

“The accused proceeded to yell and swear at the complainant, and in a moment of anger and frustration, kicked the complainant in the mouth, causing him dental and lip trauma,” the decision read.

Because Lussier kicked Davis after the man posed no further threat to either the public or the police officers present, the judge ruled Lussier could not be protected by the law that protects police officers when using lawful and reasonable force.

“On these facts, there is no objective basis which would support the subjective belief that an application of force was required to further the arrest, or investigation,” the decision read.

“Therefore, there is no air of reality to the suggestion that Cpl. Lussier had reasonable grounds to use force, or that he used no more force than necessary.”