Photo: Tyler Russell
Tyler Russell shortly after being released from KGH after his arrest in May 2020.
The man who was repeatedly beaten by a Kelowna RCMP agent during a detention in central Kelowna in May 2020 took up his position in the trial on Thursday for assaulting the officer who beat him.
Const. Siggy Pietrzak was charged with the only count of assault in April 2021, almost a year after he was involved in a violent arrest of Tyler Russell in the parking lot behind the Kelowna BMO Bank of Montreal center next door of Water Street on May 30, 2020.
The arrest was captured in a video, which shows two officers, Const. David Carter and Const. Regan Donahue, fighting to arrest Russell, in front of Const. Pietrzak runs towards the three men and starts repeatedly hitting Russell in the face. The other two officers grab Russell’s arms while Pietrzak slaps him.
On Wednesday, several agents, including Const. Carter and Donahue testified how Russell refused to comply with his instructions after Const. Carter attempted to arrest Russell for obstruction.
Const. Carter said Russell was sitting in a parked truck as he approached Russell and asked for a breath. When Russell refused, the officer tried to arrest him and Russell resisted.
But Russell testified Thursday that while he was intoxicated while sitting in his truck in the parking lot, he knew he had done nothing wrong, so he refused to comply with the officer’s demands.
Russell, who was 30 at the time of the incident, said his brother was visiting from out of town on the Saturday of the incident, and that he attended a luncheon at his home. his mother about noon. He, his brother, and his friend started drinking in downtown bars around 1 p.m., and continued for most of the afternoon.
“No party, just casual drinks,” he said. “I haven’t seen my brother in a long time. Casual drinks in the center of Kelowna.
He estimated that he drank about 10 beers and three ounces of liquor, along with some cocaine, for a period of six hours before the incident, but said he was not very intoxicated because he had a very high tolerance for alcohol at that time. He told the court he regularly drank a 26-ounce bottle of liquor after work at that time in his life.
Sometime in the evening, Russell said he returned to his parked truck, but gave the keys to his brother.
“I was a little intoxicated, so I gave my keys to my brother. But he was not completely wasted, not knowing what was going on, “he said.
“I’m not mistaken, I was intoxicated to the point of realizing that there could be a potential danger if I drove. That’s why I gave my keys to my brother. “
Russell sat in the truck for a while, going out several times to smoke cigarettes. He said he went out specifically through the passenger side door because “he didn’t want any shit as far as he was accused of drinking and driving.”
But after someone informed the police that he was acting erratically, Const. Jacqualine Davidson approached Russell and talked to him. But she left the scene because she did not appear to have committed any crime.
Some time later, Const. Carter approached Russell’s truck and asked for a breath.
“I didn’t want to give a damn because I knew I was drinking that day, intoxicated, and I didn’t need a DUI while driving for my job and I wasn’t drinking or driving,” Russell said Thursday. “For me there was no need for a breathalyzer, as I was sitting next to the passenger of the vehicle without keys anywhere in the vicinity.”
In an ongoing civil lawsuit that Russell has filed against Pietrzak and the RCMP, Russell’s attorney, Michael Patterson, said his client “had no obligation to comply with the illegal lawsuits.” his keys were not in his possession or close to him and he was not in violation of any criminal or legal offense. “
RCMP agents said Wednesday that they never found the keys to the truck in Russell or the truck.
Russell demonstrated on the track how he managed to keep his hands apart on his back when Const. Carter and Donahue tried to handcuff him. Russell admitted that he may have raised his fists as he struggled to keep his hands apart, as it helped him “gain a little more strength.” Const. Donahue testified that the punch was one of the factors that led him to believe that Russell was becoming “aggressive,” prompting officers to step up their response.
Russell stated that he had no intention of hitting the officers who had detained him if he had released his arms. Const. Carter stated that Russell did not punch him, but that his aggressive body language indicated an “intent to assault.” The officer said it was one of the 10 most difficult arrests he has ever had to make.
Russell said he never saw or heard Pietrzak running towards him during the fight, but he remembers the first times Pietrzak hit him. But he said that after the first punches connected to his face, the next thing he remembers is being in the back of the RCMP cruiser.
Const. Macklin McCall testified Wednesday that a crowd had formed around the incident when he arrived at the scene and spectators called police. He said he threatened to arrest one of the spectators for obstruction.
Russel said he remembers calling the crowd to call a lawyer at one point in the fight, and Const. Donahue testified that Russell was also calling for someone to call his mother.
Although the violent arrest ended with Pietrzak punching Russell repeatedly in the face for subduing him, no charges were ever brought against Russell in this matter.
Russell was taken to the cell of the Kelowna RCMP, where he says he repeatedly sought medical attention because of the cut above his eye and the scratches on his face. He was placed in a restraint chair, which the staff sergeant. Martin Trudeau called it a “Hannibal Lecter chair” on Wednesday. A “hood” was also placed on his head, despite the staff. Sgt. Trudeau stated that Russell had not been spitting up to this point.
Russell was eventually taken to Kelowna General Hospital in an ambulance, but Russell says he never saw a doctor at the hospital and was escorted from the hospital grounds by security guards and police.
“I was worried that the second time he left the hospital, he would be arrested again and beaten again,” he said. “So from the hospital I ran straight to my mother’s house. It’s about a block and a half.
“I knew it wasn’t right. How they did everything, in terms of punches in the face and illegal detention for something I didn’t do.”
Russell said he stopped drinking so soon after the incident, but was recently convicted of obstruction of a police officer and assault related to a September 2020 incident involving a barbecue fight.
Pietrzak also faced a separate charge of domestic assault against a complainant woman resulting from an out-of-service incident in West Kelowna for several months in 2017, but that charge was suspended by the BC Prosecutor’s Office last week.
The trial will be paused for a couple of weeks and is scheduled to continue on June 10, 23 and 24.