Aggravated assault charges were stayed in the case against a former Alberta sheriff who forcibly removed a cancer survivor from the Red Deer courthouse in a December 2011 incident.
The Crown stayed the charges against Thomas Bounds on Thursday.
In December 2011, Red Deer resident Bill Berry mistakenly entered the courthouse through the open exit doors without going through security check.
Berry is unable to speak and breathes through a tube in his neck. He tried to communicate with a sheriff who approached him after he missed the security screening.
A sheriff pushed Berry toward the exit, grabbed and placed him in a bear hug while trying to drag him from the courthouse.
Video surveillance captured on several cameras in the courthouse show a chain of events from when Berry entered the building to when he was followed out by a sheriff and two medics.
An investigation by the Solicitor General’s Office’s Law Enforcement and Oversight Professional Standards Unit concluded that Bounds used “excessive” and “unjustified” force in the incident.
The RCMP did not recommend charges.
However, Berry did not give up his fight. In February, Berry was granted permission to lay a charge of aggravated assault against the former sheriff, who no longer works for the provincial government.
A stay does not mean that the charges have been dropped, only that the Crown chooses not to act on them at this time.