Police assault proceedings await decision

The court was able to watch the security video of the incident as it unfolded. In the video, a clearly intoxicated Morin could be seen being resistant to officers who were asking her to remove her shoes and submit to a search.

After repeatedly refusing to be searched, officers held her arms to her side while a female employee conducted the search.

While that was happening, Ozar opened a door to the room and was almost immediately spit on by Morin.

The officers holding Morin brought her to the ground while Ozar delivered one swift stomp of his foot to the area of Morin’s head.

During the court proceedings, prosecutor Christy Pannell said Morin had consumed between six and seven beers.

Pannell said that Morin admitted to spitting at Ozar, and also acknowledged that spitting at an officer was a form of assault.

“It is clear that the officer had an unlawful reaction… but it was a reaction to him being spit on,” she said.

However, she pointed out since officers were in an extreme position of trust, they needed to be held to an even higher standard and as such, Ozar should never have struck Morin.

“Police are the front line of justice and society expects them to behave as such.”

Morin reads victim impact statement

Morin took the stand to tell the court about what the experience meant to her. She said it effected her deeply and made her fearful of police.

She said the incident resulted in headaches that she required medication for and the restraint from the officers left her unable to write for about six months.

She also said she was no longer able to trust police and feared for the hers and her children’s safety since she was unsure how police would react to their calls in an emergency.

“I don’t believe I will ever get over this. I wish it was all a bad dream but it ain't,” she said.

With that in mind, Pannell asked the judge to consider handing Ozar a 9 – 12 month conditional discharge with anger management classes and community service hours.

Defence calls for lesser sentence

Ozar’s defence lawyer Trevor Klassen didn’t agree with Pannell. He said the situation called for an absolute discharge for several reasons.

First he said the nature of the incident and assault were less severe than the victim made it out to be.

He pointed to the tape where it showed the whole incident took less than two seconds to begin and resolve.

He said it was unclear exactly where Ozar had hit Morin and suggested that her injuries couldn’t really have been caused by the kick anyway with the angles that were involved and suggested they came from the heavy drinking earlier in the night.

“It’s pretty clear that the actions of Mr. Ozar didn’t result in any injuries,” he said.

He said that Morin herself had admitted to planning to spit on Ozar as soon as he arrived and that was the real assault.

On top of that, he said that Ozar had already been punished enough. He pointed out that Ozar had been on leave for more than a year since that incident. In that time, Klassen said Ozar had attended anger management courses and had been found to not be in need of them.

Further, he had been continuing his volunteering efforts with sports and community construction projects.

“This is an individual who didn’t sit idly by,” he said.

After hearing the arguments from both sides, the judge said he needed time to create a formal written decision on the matter.

All parties will be back in court on Jan. 26 to hear the decision.

adesouza@panow.com

by Andrew de Souza

Police assault proceedings await decision

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