Ottawa cop who stepped on man's neck for two minutes suspended with pay. Const. Goran Beric was found guilty of assault with a weapon and is now the subject of an internal-affairs investigation

The Ottawa police officer found guilty of assault with a weapon last week has been suspended with pay and is now the subject of an internal affairs investigation.

Const. Goran Beric assaulted a man who was in the throes of a psychotic break, jabbing him with his baton and stepping on the downed and limp man’s neck for two minutes and five seconds.

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Beric testified it was the only way to keep the man under control and himself out of range of bloody spit during the pandemic, but the judge didn’t believe his story.

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Ontario Court Justice Janet O’Brien noted inconsistencies in the officer’s testimony, omissions in his notes — sacrosanct in police work — and said Beric’s use of force was beyond the lawful range of reasonable and necessary, and certainly not in the training manual.

Parts of the arrest were captured on surveillance video that was shown at trial. At the times in question, the video shows the man is barely moving, let alone resisting, and he went limp for two minutes and five seconds. The judge noted Beric didn’t reassess the situation, as he was trained to do.

It was Aug. 4, 2021, and Beric, along with other officers, was responding to a call about a bloodied man at a public-housing complex on Bronson Avenue. There was blood everywhere and the man was yelling gibberish in the hallway.

Beric assaulted the man after he was grounded and not resisting.

The officer, who has a degree in psychology, said he was paranoid the man was going to pull a knife on him, and went on to tell court about bad calls he’s had in the past.

The officer’s story that he had to press his “army” boot to keep control of the man and to avoid bloody spit during COVID-19 times was not detailed in his police notes. Unlike his testimony, his notes made no mention of spitting blood or being attacked. Beric did take the time to note other details in his investigative report, notably that there was so much blood in the hallway he referred to the 1980 horror movie The Shining.

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Beric testified he asked fellow officers for assistance, but they wouldn’t help.

After hearing all of the police testimony at trial, the judge concluded either Beric didn’t ask other officers for help or they simply couldn’t recall.

Beric made no mention of use of force in his police report.

The police were apprehending the man under the Mental Health Act when he “lunged” at them. The man was never charged and Ontario’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit, was not called in because he was not seriously injured.

The suspended police officer remains on the city payroll awaiting sentencing for assault and assault with a weapon while on duty. The disgraced officer is also waiting to see if the professional standards investigation yields any charges under the Police Services Act.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/ottawa-cop-who-stepped-on-mans-neck-for-two-minutes-suspended-with-pay

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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-boot-neck-cop-officer-goran-beric-derrick-weyman-judgement-1.6992426

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