Iqaluit police-brutality lawsuit gathers dust

KIRSTEN MURPHY

A $1.75-million lawsuit against the RCMP alleging police brutality is gathering dust two and a half years after Euan Mackay, the lawyer representing an Iqaluit man, launched the case in 1999.

Mathew Petooloosie says Const. Colin Allooloo kneed him in the stomach on March 2, 1999, causing an injury that required surgery for a ruptured bladder.

Petooloosie was 23 when he filed his claim in December 1999.

A statement of defence filed by the RCMP two months later is the most recent document filed with the Nunavut Court of Justice. The defence statement denies any wrongdoing, but admits that Allooloo struck Petooloosie.

Unless Petooloosie withdraws the suit or the case is settled out of court, a discovery hearing is the next step. Discovery hearings are held in civil suits to determine how the matter should proceed in court.

The RCMP’s lawyer, Mark Mason of Winnipeg, denies responsibility for the delays.

“I’ve been trying to get the plaintiff’s council [Mackay] to respond to my numerous letters and phone calls,” Mason said.

Mackay said he’s been waiting for a police report, which he only recently received. Mackay agreed the next step is a hearing of discovery, but didn’t say when that would be.

In his statement of claim, Petooloosie said Allooloo arrested him without cause and kneed him in the stomach at the Iqaluit RCMP detachment.

Of the nine people named in the suit, six were RCMP officers. The only officer still working in Iqaluit is Const. Joe Baines, who was an RCMP cadet in 1999.

Petooloosie is seeking $750,000 in general damages and $1 million in punitive damages.

“[Petooloosie] has suffered extreme physical pain and mental suffering as a direct result of the assault and battery and neglect,” the statement says.

Statements of claim often contain unproven allegations.

According to the defence statement, Allooloo struck an intoxicated Petooloosie because he refused to enter a jail cell.

“The force used was appropriate for the situational factors presented by the plaintiff,” the defence statement says.

Allooloo faced a criminal charge of assault. The Crown dismissed the charge based on an internal RCMP investigation stating a conviction was unlikely.

The dismissal drew the ire of Mackay, who filed a complaint with the RCMP Public Complaints Commission.

“We fear a cover-up,” Mackay wrote in his submission to the commission.

In 1999, an RCMP sergeant in charge of complaints and investigations told Nunatsiaq News that an intoxicated Petooloosie was arrested at his brother’s house and became belligerent and aggressive outside the RCMP holding cell area.

At one point, according to the sergeant, Petooloosie grabbed Allooloo’s arms and would not let go. It was then that Allooloo struck Petooloosie in the mid-section with his knee to force the prisoner to release his grip.

Allooloo was transferred to Rae Edzo, Northwest Territories, shortly after the incident with Petooloosie in 1999.

In December that year, another man, William Drybone, said Allooloo repeatedly punched him in the face and broke his jaw while he was in police custody.

The case went to court but a NWT judge acquitted Allooloo based on Drybone’s inconsistent testimony.