Judge throws out charge alleging former councillor refused breathalyzer

Former Iqaluit city councillor Stu Kennedy was acquitted last week of assaulting a police officer.

Judge Rene Foisy also threw out a charge that Kennedy refused to take a breathalyzer test.

"I think we all have to appreciate Canadian justice," a jubilant Kennedy said shortly after the verdict.

Foisy ruled there weren't probable grounds for police to use a breathalyzer on Ken­nedy.

Foisy also ruled there was enough reasonable doubt to acquit Kennedy of assaulting a police officer, because of conflicting testimonies of a scuffle between Kennedy and a Mountie inside the RCMP lock-up.

In September 2006, Iqaluit RCMP received a call warning them that Kennedy was driving home after spending several hours drinking beer at the Elks Lodge. Kennedy testified he drank four beers that night.

Mounties Terry Boyd and Brad Anderson found Ken­nedy pulling into his driveway. When Kennedy got out of his truck, Anderson testified he smelled of alcohol, slurred his speech and wobbled on his feet.

But under cross-examination by defence lawyer Jean Pierre Raincourt, Anderson admitted he didn't see Kennedy driving in a dangerous way. Still, Anderson told Kennedy to come to the RCMP detachment for a breathalyzer test. Kennedy agreed at first.

But at the station, Kennedy refused to give a breath sample until he had a lawyer present. Kennedy asked for either Michael Chandler or Sue Cooper, but neither lawyer could be reached.

So Anderson put Ken­nedy in a cell, while other police searched for Cooper.

Police let Kennedy keep his shoes on, because there was a puddle on the floor of the cell, but he was required to empty his pockets, remove his jewelry and take off his glasses.

It's simply procedure, Anderson testified. But Ken­nedy got angry.

"He informed me if I wanted to remove his eyeglasses I would have to do so myself."

When Anderson tried to do so, he said Kennedy slapped his hand away and adopted a boxer's pose, with fists up.

Kennedy admitted he tried to move Anderson's hands away, but denied putting his fists up. He said Anderson "absolutely snap­ped," twisted his arm and pushed him into the wall of the cell.

A videotape that may have captured the incident was erased by police even after Kennedy's lawyer requested a copy, leading Foisy to also issue a stay in the assault charge.

Kennedy told the court that, at the time of his arrest, he thought police were seeking payback for how he berated them for what he considered a botched response to a series of break-ins at one of Kennedy's businesses in December 2005.

Kennedy admitted he said to a police officer: "I have a house cat I consider more professional than you" and called the officer "a waste of rations" during the 2005 incident. Kennedy said in court he regretted the comments.

And Foisy found no evidence that Kennedy's arrest was part of a vendetta.