Petooloosie case goes to RCMP Public Complaints Commission

DWANE WILKIN
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT — A man who says he was brutalized in Iqaluit by an RCMP officer while in police custody earlier this year has asked for an independent investigation and a public inquiry.

Mathew Petooloosie’s lawyer, Euan Mackay, formally lodged a complaint with the RCMP Public Complaints Commission on Thursday, and is also preparing a civil suit against the police.

In the letter to the independent commission, Mackay also alleges that Petooloosie was recently a victim of wrongful arrest by Iqaluit RCMP.

The 23-year-old carver was arrested while drunk in the small hours of the morning of March 2, after allegedly assaulting his brother in their home.

He later complained that Cst. Colin Allooloo kicked him in the stomach while trying to subdue him in the police holding cell. An internal RCMP investigation cleared Allooloo of any criminal wrongdoing in May.

“We fear a cover-up,” Mackay wrote in his submission to the Public Complaints Commission, and notes that Petooloosie “is not satisfied with both the criminal or administrative investigations that have been conducted and concluded.”

In a letter to Petooloosie following the RCMP’s own investigation of the complaint, Staff Sergeant Tom Steggles characterized Allooloo’s use of force as justified under the circumstances. According to Steggles, who is in charge of complaints and internal investigations, Petooloosie became belligerent and aggressive outside the holding cell area.

At one, point, according to Steggles, Petooloosie grabbed onto 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.

Petooloosie subsequently had to undergo emergency surgery to repair a ruptured, bleeding bladder.

His lawyer says he suffers from psychological problems as a result of the incident and is currently taking medication that may leave the impression that he is drunk.

In a letter to the RCMP Public Complaints Commission dated June 24, Mackay states that his client was wrongfully arrested for drunkenness two weeks ago at the Navigator Hotel in Iqaluit and detained for 17 hours without a chance to contact his lawyer.

The RCMP Public Complaints Commission, an independent federal agency established in 1988 to review public complaints about the Mounties, could order its own investigation into the incident.

The Commission has the authority to investigate the conduct of any RCMP member, to call any police or civilian witnesses it thinks have relevant information and to require them to testify under oath and be subject to cross-examination.