Skip to content

Red Deer RCMP officer convicted of assault

Officer punched prisoner knocking him unconscious in detachment cell block in 2020
32210670_web1_201030-rda-quentin-strawberry-strawberry_1

A Red Deer RCMP officer who punched a prisoner in the detachment cell block three years ago has been convicted of assault.

Red Deer provincial court Judge Gordon Hatch said on Wednesday he was not convinced Cpl. Kent McDiarmid was justified in punching a heavily intoxicated Evan Deschamps in the face knocking him unconscious on March 2, 2020.

“I conclude the use of force was not proportionate in the circumstances. In my view, it was excessive,” said Hatch. “I find him guilty of assault.”

A sentencing date has not yet been set.

Deschamps, who has since died under unrelated circumstances, had been picked up by police in the early hours of March 2 after they responded to a report of a fight at a Subway near Taylor Drive and 67th Street.

He was taken to the detachment where a swaying and mostly incoherent Deschamps repeatedly refused to provide his name, instead giving police a string of fake names. He was eventually identified by a tattoo of his last name found on his neck.

RELATED:

RCMP officer on trial for assault says prisoner hit him

A video surveillance recording with no sound of the incident was shown during McDiarmid’s trial last October. Three other officers who were in the cell blocks at the time of the incident testified and McDiarmid testified in his own defence.

McDiarmid testified that while Deschamps was being processed he kept pawing at the officer, at one point touching his belt carrying his baton and other tools. When Deschamps reached out and hit McDiarmid’s chest and neck he delivered a “reactive strike” in a split-second decision.

The judge said McDiarmid, an officer with 15 years’ experience at the time, had other ways of dealing with Deschamps, who so drunk he could barely stand up and other officers felt posed little threat.

McDiarmid’s interaction with Deschamps lasted about 15 minutes and it was not a rapidly escalating situation, the judge said.

A more reasonable way of responding to Deschamps’ aggression would have been to push him away and ask other officers for help. The judge also noted that at one point McDiarmid warned Deschamps that if he did not stop touching him he would punch him.

Hatch said a reasonable person would conclude in the circumstances that punching Deschamps was “unnecessary and avoidable” and that Deschamps could have been put in a chair or taken to a cell.

“Instead, (McDiarmid) seemed to be predisposed to make good on his earlier threat to punch Deschamps in the face.”

The investigation into McDiarmid’s actions began in March 2020 with an incident review. It was followed by code of conduct and criminal investigations. He was charged in February 2021.



News tips

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter

32210670_web1_160420-RDA--courthouse-web-size