Judge acquits Manitoba RCMP officer accused of assaulting man outside Thompson bar in 2019

Prosecutors failed to persuade a judge to convict an RCMP officer accused of assaulting a northern Manitoba man outside a hotel bar more than 3½ years ago.

Court of Kings Bench Justice David Kroft said the Crown didn't prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the force RCMP Const. Jeremiah Dumont-Fontaine used against Brian Halcrow in the summer of 2019 was unjustified.

"When I consider the overall circumstances, the nature of the forced used, and the characteristics of Const. Dumont-Fontaine, reasonable doubt remains as to whether [his] response was objectively unreasonable," Kroft wrote in a decision released Thursday.

The charge of assault causing bodily harm Dumont-Fontaine was on trial for has been dropped.

The case stems from June 6, 2019, when police were called to the North Star Saloon in Thompson, Man.

Accounts from bar staff, RCMP, the Independent Investigation Unit and interviews with Halcrow's loved ones paint differing pictures of what happened.

Staff at the bar, which is attached to the Thompson Inn, called RCMP over concerns Halcrow tried to go behind the bar and refused to leave the building.

Dumont-Fontaine escorted Halcrow, 50, from the bar. A fellow officer initially said Halcrow was first to throw a punch. The constable struck back twice in self-defence, according to the officer. But that description of what happened later came under scrutiny.

Halcrow suffered significant head wounds and required medical attention. He was later charged with assaulting a police officer and causing a disturbance while intoxicated.

Halcrow told an investigator with the IIU, which investigates all serious cases involving police, that he had no memory of the incident.

A member of Tataskweyak Cree Nation, Halcrow suffered several strokes in the years before the incident that caused his speech to slow down. He also had stability issues and was often mistaken as being intoxicated.

Seven months after the bar incident, on Jan. 5, 2020, Halcrow killed himself. Two days prior to that, and unbeknownst to Halcrow, Dumont-Fontaine was charged with assault causing bodily harm.

Family said Halcrow had become withdrawn following the incident and was troubled over the thought that he might end up in jail if convicted.

During the judge-only trial, Dumont-Fontaine testified in his own defence. Among other evidence he put forward, Dumont-Fontaine also had two RCMP use-of-force experts testify, as well as his colleague, who witnessed the incident.