Judge slams OPP officer, acquits Good Samaritan
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Tracy McLaughlin, Special to QMI Agency First posted: Tuesday, December 16, 2014 06:14 PM EST | Updated: Tuesday, December 16, 2014 06:57 PM EST
ORILLIA - A 49-year-old-grandmother who was acting as a “Good Samaritan” was karate-kicked, sucker-punched, beaten and left with “catastrophic injuries” by a police officer, a judge said Tuesday.
It has been two long years since Maria “Tonie” Farrell was charged with assaulting a police officer in an incident that has left her crippled from a shattered knee.
But in his ruling, Justice George Beatty exonerated — and validated — Farrell when he found that it was OPP Sgt. Russ Watson who attacked her while on duty April 2, 2011.
Outside of court, Farrell — still in pain — wept and embraced her lawyer.
“This is the best Christmas present ever,” she said. “I’ve been going through hell ... but I knew the truth would prevail.”
Her defence lawyer, Angela McLeod, wept with her. “The greatest injustice was righted today,” McLeod said.
During the on-and-off trial that dragged out over a year, court heard Farrell, an employee at Tim Hortons, was still in her uniform after work when she heard a woman screaming.
She ran behind a Mac’s convenience store in time to see a woman being punched in the face by a male who ran off. Farrell rushed to the woman’s assistance and when Watson arrived alone on the scene she tried to point out the direction of the assailant.
But she said the officer was aggressive and told her to “shut the f--- up.”
“Mrs. Farrell was acting as Good Samaritan who went to the assistance of a woman who was being assaulted,” the judge said. “She had no criminal record and wanted to assist Sgt. Watson.”
He described the officer as a “controlling,” “large and powerfully built” man.
“Watson kicked her to the side, a karate-kick that snapped her leg,” said the judge. Farrell screamed in agony as she tried to defend herself.
“Watson then jumped on her and punched her on the left side of her face. She turned face-down and Sgt. Watson kept kneeing her in the back,” Beatty said.
With her leg dangling, crying out in pain, Farrell was then handcuffed and taken to the cruiser.
She had injuries to her neck and back, a crushed knee that required several operations, a knee replacement and lost a back tooth. She now lives with her elderly parents because she will never be able to work again and can’t afford to pay rent.
During his testimony, Watson said he suspected Farrell had been drinking. He said she was disruptive and “took a poke” at him, then resisted arrest. But the judge didn’t believe him.
“Sgt. Watson provided no explanation as to how Ms. Farrell’s tibia was broken, or indeed, the reasons for the bruises on her legs and arms and the loss of a tooth,” Beatty said. “His notes did not record the hammer strike to her left eye, which was basically a sucker punch … he suffered no injury and her injuries were catastrophic.”
The judge said even if Farrell’s “excitement and zeal was distractive,” her only intent was to help.
“Police officers are trained and experienced in handling people who may be intoxicated, drug addicted, mentally ill, armed or violent. They apply their psychological skills and use the minimum of force in maintaining the peace and protecting the public,” Beatty said.
“That did not happen in this case.”
The Special Investigation Unit investigated the case and found no reasonable grounds to charge Watson, although he refused to produce his notes.
“Our records show he came in for an interview but he would not provide his notes,” SIU spokesman Jasbir Brar said. “That is within his legal rights.”
The OPP did not respond to calls for comment Tuesday.
he can't show his notes because he has "designer notes",these notes are the Officers own version or the version of information he has been mentored through watching his fellow Officers demonstrate a certain type of information collection,design and application. Overall within the administration and scripture of law and justice,"designer notes are predictable and acceptable,but not in this case,this case is public and far reaching,the sad thing is in my prediction the managers have instructed him not to hand over his notes,management certainly does not want those "designer notes" in their possession because they already know it is "designer notes",they know this because it is an acceptable form of information design within law enforcement,it has been a practice as old as law enforcement itself,the methods have become a little more sophisticated over the years,management has seen it over and over again,i think management does not want those notes because they can play the "daft" card,management already knows what those notes say,they have a plan which is predictable and would be aligned with abandoment of the Officer.Management has a skilled presentation at keeping at an arms length of bad behaviour which is endorsed under normal circumstances.
Anyone observe the Braidwood Inquiry when the Officers provided designer testimony when the video showed a different account of what happened,this is the finest example of the power of designer information,and the confidence the Officers had using the designer information,one should ask where did those Officers become so confident with demonstrating pergury?
the question would be the history of the Officer or detachment involved,the history is important,but is it?Within my information auditing i was able to determine collection of information is flexible and more so the complaint process is more then flexible and may result in no information gathered at all.
this is the sad state of affairs by Ottawa management,this Officer probably has some history of distress and bad judgement within his work history, it is more then likely he should have been flagged and offered the help and assistance he needs to become of more sound mind when performing his duties of public service,but instead these repeat challenged Officers demonstrate a spiral down in performing their duties,using the information process to disguise their need for intervention,Ottawa plays dumb and the circle continues,the acceptance of designer notes becomes common place for individuals and detachments.
The above Officer probably believed the informaiton process would free him from accountability,it probably worked before.
What management endorses and holds to lofty standards in private is dismissed in public,how does this work?,this confuses the Officer who needs intervention.
If anyone has had the pleasure or displeasure of placing a complaint against a police Officer or detachment would know the games to be played,it has become an art of application,the design is flexible,the stats skewed,and more so,Ottawa continues to play like they don't know this is going on,this is such a shame,the whole process is abuse of power.The complaint process is filled with tolerated information play and spin,the individual will be exhaused before they reach satisfaction.
Families are trapped in a game of information play, this includes police Officers families,within my information auditing the evidence of manipulation of members families is not different from the general public when placing a complaint,we also see this in Veterns affairs management.Ottawa has a hard time letting go of self interest.The chances of people recieving satisfaction in the complaint process against the administration of law and justice is low,because of the tolerance of "designer information "application,and more so how it is protected as a tool for self governing.
if there has been one public repersentation which has served Canadians in the poorest manner in making a difference in good policy within the administration of law and justice,it would the irritating,self gloating,waste of tax dollars,silver tongued "Public Complaints Commisison against the RCMP".
In all my romantic Liberal thinking i really did believed this commission to be a thereputic information collector, established to shape better policy and procedure,once again my romantic Liberal thinking failed me, i was wrong!
This Commission is a smoke screen for upper management and has demonstrated over and over again and again, they are useless for public good and more so for overall good of the Officers,the Commission is only loyal to Ottawa,and endorses political laisons at the expense of lower rank Officers,along with their families.The Commission is a snake in the grass,and if anything gave me great insights into people and administration,brainwashed people are always interesting to assess.
After i discovered the Commissions wasteful existance, i have not paid much attention to their operations,I have disregarded the Commission as being capable of growth to higher standards.The Commission is below my realm of thinking of administration of law and justice,they serve little or no Constitutional good,their existance is a disfavor to all Canadians,they are a disgusting public service.I have learnt what I know,the Commission made it clear to myself they are not interested in change,they think they are perfect.I would like my readers to know this information auditingof the Commission was some time ago, at least 8 years plus ago,possibly the Commission has moved out of their deluded perch to perform some public good, and more so to serve the Officers they should be serving.
Loyality to designer information comes in different forms and ideas within law and justice,geographic considerations is huge in assessment of "designer information"
I had the good fortune of investigating the self governing bodies of law enforcement,"associations",what a joke that was and for all you union nayers,this is maybe where exampling of unions may be of benifit to the Canadian public.Just a thought,that law enforcement governing themselves may be of benifit for society as a whole.
Unfortunately with the acceptance of the construction of "designer information" paired with,political alligence and the neglect and denial of Ottawa to take responsibility for individual Officers well being ,will continue to enable the administrtion of law and justice to be manipulated and deserving interventions of Officers will go unnoticed,what a sad state of affairs we live in,
Oh Canada