Warning: This story contains video some may find disturbing.
A Guelph police officer who assaulted a teenager handcuffed to a hospital bed in 2016 was given a conditional discharge in a Guelph court Thursday.
Cst. Corey McArthur, who previously pled guilty to assault, was also placed on probation for three years and ordered to do 240 hours of community service.
The sentence, handed down by Justice Edward Graham, means McArthur, 41, will not have a criminal record as long as he stays out of trouble for those three years.
The prosecution had been seeking a suspended sentence plus probation, which would have resulted in McArthur having a criminal record.
"I'm very pleased that this opens the door for officer McArthur to build his future," defence council Joseph Markson said outside court.
McArthur has been off duty since 2016, but Markson said his client's goal is to eventually return to being a front line officer.
Markson did acknowledge that McArthur will face a professional disciplinary hearing under the Police Services Act at some point.
Following the 2016 assault that landed him in court, McArthur was diagnosed with PTSD resulting from the on-duty death of fellow officer Jennifer Kovach in 2013.
Kovach had been responding to a call for assistance from McArthur when she lost control of her police cruiser and slammed into a bus.
"At the end of the day, I must impose a sentence that reflects the circumstances of this offence and this offender," the judge said in reading his written decision.
The judge gave weight to the PTSD diagnosis, saying that while many of us experience traumatic events, "few of us, though, wake up each morning with the prospect of encountering truama and tragedy as a routine part of our workday.
"I am not suggesting that PTSD is the entire explanation. Anger also seems to also have played a role."
He also gave credit to McArthur for pleading guilty, "a sign of remorse and acceptance of responsibility."
He said McArthur is at low risk to re-offend and has taken "all of the steps the public would expect in order to make amends for a serious breach of trust."
This is the third time McArthur has faced assault charges. The officer was found guilty in 2010 and was given an unconditional discharge. In 2014 he was charged with assault causing bodily harm, but that charge was later withdrawn.
On Sept. 19, 2016, Guelph police were called to a local group home regarding a 17-year-old male who was threatening to harm himself.
Officers took him to Guelph General Hospital where he was placed on a mental health hold in a safe room.
That safe room contains a security camera.
The teenager, who later admitted to using crystal meth, was seen acting strangely, then vomiting, then trying to use a rigid plastic part of a bag to harm himself.
The female officer dealing with the victim asked McArthur and another officer, who were at the hospital on another matter, for help with restraining the patient to prevent him from harming himself.
He was handcuffed and later started striking himself in the head. At that point he was handcuffed to the hospital bed to stop the self harm. The victim then started banging his head against a metal bed rail.
When McArthur and the other officer pinned the victim's head to the bed with their hands, the victim said "don't choke me," then kneed McArthur in the mid-section.
McArthur responded with a vicious elbow slam to the victim's upper body.
He later required stitches to close a 3.5 centimetre cut under his eye, although it wasn't clear if the cut was a result of the elbow slam or from hitting his own head on the metal railing earlier.
A few days later hospital staff reviewed the tape and contacted Guelph police about a possible excessive use of force situation. McArthur was subsequently arrested.
An expert witness testified in writing that while the elbow slam was an acceptable use of force to help restrain a person in certain situations, the force and speed of the elbow slam delivered by McArthur was excessive.
"It's difficult to think of someone in a more vulnerable position," the judge said of the victim, whose identity is protected by a court order.
"He (MacArthur) had a duty to help (the victim), but instead he assaulted him," Graham said.
McArthur was accompanied by family and several fellow officers in the courtroom.
Police union president Matt Jotham said PTSD is a serious issue on the police force and that several Guelph police officers have been diagnosed with it.
"We deal with it locally within the Guelph Police Service. It is an issue," Jotham said. "We have a number of members that are off seeking treatment."
