Mountie faces discipline for injuring woman during mental health call

A Mountie who slammed a woman face-first into a driveway while apprehending her under the Mental Health Act admits he violated the RCMP's code of conduct.

Fort Saskatchewan RCMP Const. Sean Avery, 45, admitted to four code of conduct violations during a hearing Tuesday oneallegation related to use of force and three allegations that he included misinformation in his account of what happened during an April 2021 apprehension of a person suffering from a mental disorder.

At the outset of the hearing Tuesday, conduct board member Kevin Harrison read the details of the allegations, which stem back to a call Avery and two other officers responded to on April 14, 2021.

RCMP conduct boards look into serious cases of police misconduct. The adjudicators have the legal authority to order disciplinary measures, such as loss of pay or dismissal.

Harrison said the RCMP went to a woman's house in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., to apprehend her under the Mental Health Act at her doctor's request, and that when they arrived they were told by the woman's mother that the woman may have a knife.

'Excessive, unreasonable,unnecessary'

The identity of the woman who Avery assaulted is protected by a publication ban.

Police can get legal authority to apprehend someone who suffers from a mental disorder and take them to a hospital under certain conditions if it's believed that they are likely to cause harm to themselves or others.

Harrison said police went down to the basement and handcuffed the woman, with her arms behind her back. As Avery led her out of the house, both she and Avery fell on the stairs, but he regained his balance and maintained control of the woman.

But as they continued to walk toward the police's vehicles, the woman bumped her hip into Avery.

Harrison said video of the incident shows that Avery swung his leg out in front of the woman as he grabbed her head and then "slammed her into the ground," her arms still handcuffed behind her back.

The woman landed face-first on the driveway, injuring her face. She required stitches, the hearing heard.

"The takedown was excessive, unreasonable,unnecessary andinconsistent with RCMP policy and training standards," Harrison said.

In addition to the RCMP's disciplinary process, Avery was also charged with criminal assault, and entered a guilty plea in November 2022. His sentence was a $1,200 fine.

Contesting details of allegations

Avery also admitted to providing false and misleading information about what had happened. Hehad said the woman made two assaultive actions against him in the driveway and that he tried to assist her as she fell but that he lost control.

He repeated the misinformation three times: to his supervisor, in his initial report about the use of force, and later in a statement when the incident was under review.

While Avery admitted that he did violate the code of conduct by providing false and misleading information, he contests some of the details of the allegations and maintains it wasn't intentional.

Under questioning, Avery said he still believes he felt what he thought was a kick from the woman before the takedown, and that he believed his account was true at the time.

"This was my best memory of the incident and I had no intention on misleading," he said, adding that it was only a year later when he watched dashcam video of the incident and realized what he'd said wasn't accurate.

"Unfortunately, the force that I did use was more than necessary at that time," he said.

Sabine Georges, the conduct authority representative whose function was similar to a prosecutor in a criminal case, argued that Avery's account of what happened was largely inconsistent with what the video footage shows, and that it was vaguein areas where his own conduct was questionable.

Georges said that while the video does show Avery stumble slightly when the woman knocks him with her hip, it also shows the much larger officer being "uncontrolled" as he throws the woman to the ground.

"I suggest the takedown and what is shown in that video is disturbingly violent," she said, adding that a pool of blood was left where's woman's head forcibly hit the concrete.

Harrison is expected to make his findings on the allegations on Wednesday, and to make a decision on what sanction Avery will face on Friday.

Georges said she plans to argue Avery should lose his job.

Avery has been an RCMP member since 2001, and has worked in Fort Saskatchewan since 2010.