Kelowna RCMP officer under investigation

A Kelowna RCMP officer has been placed on administrative duties and will be subject to criminal and internal investigations after an allegedly violent arrest Friday, police say.

Police received a call Friday morningreporting thata male employee of the Harvest Golf Club in Kelowna was on the property with a shotgun, said Kelowna RCMP Supt. Bill McKinnon.

McKinnon said witnesses heard shots fired and said the man then left the scenein a pickup truck and that officers soon tracked him down and arrested him.

Afreelance member of the media following the story made avideo recording of the arrest, and a copy of it was given to McKinnon.

The video shows the suspect being ordered to his hands and knees by police and after he assumes the position, an officer appears to step up and kick him in the face.

"I have reviewed that video, and I have ordered a statutory investigation of excessive force as well as a code of conduct investigation in relation to the manner in which the officer executed his duties," McKinnon told a news conference.

The officer, who has not been identified, joined the Kelowna RCMP immediately after graduation from the force's academy in July 2007, McKinnon said.

He said it was up to RCMP provincial headquarters in Vancouver to decide if the officer would be suspended.

The golf club employee who allegedly fired the shots was on disability leave at the time of his arrest, McKinnon said, because of a brain injury he sustainedin a motorcycle accident last summer.

He said the man had a permit to fire the gunfor the purpose ofscaring geese off the golf course but could not say if that's what the man was doing Friday.