World News – CA – Officer Charged with Assault Says He Thought Suspect Slipped Handcuffs

The Calgary police officer who slammed a suspect’s face first on the ground believed she had slipped out of her handcuffs, he said on Tuesday

Const Alexander Dunn said he was trying to remove a scarf from the head of a handcuffed Dalia Kafi so that she could be photographed during the arrest process when he felt her grab his arm

« At that point, I wasn’t paying attention to his hands what I was focusing on was his headband, » Dunn said at his trial in Provincial Court on a charge of assault. fact causing bodily harm

« I couldn’t see his hands at the time, » he said of the incident, which was captured in video showing him throwing Kafi to the ground, causing her to bleed

Dunn told defense attorney Cory Wilson that he made a second attempt to remove the scarf when he felt Kafi grab his wrist

« I had noticed that his hand came from below and wrapped around my wrist, on top, » he said

« I immediately said to him, and excuse my tongue, Your Honor, » what the hell are you supposed to be handcuffed? « 

He then took her to the ground in what he said was a controlled withdrawal attempt he learned in training

A freeze frame of the video once Kafi was on the floor bleeding showed his hands still behind his back, with the cuff on his right side on his forearm

Dunn, who stood to the inmate’s right, between her and the camera, said that although Kafi’s right arm remained attached to her left, she was able to bring it up to her face level

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« With his hand so close to my face, I could blatantly see his wrist and that area, and obviously there weren’t any handcuffs there »

Fearing that Kafi – who was arrested for violating the terms of a curfew release and not drinking alcohol – might have a hidden weapon or use a hanging armband to hit him, Dunn decided to keep it

« Basically what I had tried to do was perform a dynamic wrist lock on Ms. Kafi, » he says

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Police officer, suspect, Calgary, Postmedia Network