Nova Scotia’s independent police watchdog is investigating a possible case of excessive use of force by Halifax Regional Police officers during an arrest in late April.Francis Vachon/The Canadian Press
Nova Scotia's independent police watchdog is investigating a possible case of excessive use of force by Halifax Regional Police officers during an arrest in late April.
The province's Serious Incident Response Team launched the investigation after looking into an allegation that Halifax police deleted a video related to the arrest from a bystander's cellphone.
"We have been unable to recover any video from that phone," SIRT director Ron MacDonald said Tuesday. "However, if there is some cogent evidence of a cellphone video potentially deleted by a police officer, that in our view is of significant public interest. That is potentially an obstruction of justice."
While the investigation into the video is ongoing, it raised questions of whether police used excessive force during the arrest and prompted SIRT to launch a second investigation.
The arrest occurred in the early morning hours of April 27 on the sidewalk outside Cheers Bar and Grill on Grafton Street in Halifax.
MacDonald said the police watchdog received information from "different types of sources" that created "significant public interest concern" about "possible excessive use of force and assault" during the arrest.
He said the man was arrested for public intoxication and there was no serious injury as a result of the arrest.
However, MacDonald pointed out that a serious injury for SIRT typically involves a broken bone or worse.
"We're not saying there weren't any injuries," he said, adding that excessive use of force or an assault can still occur without serious injury.
SIRT is asking anyone who may have witnessed the incident to contact them.
MacDonald, who has been a lawyer for more than three decades, said Canadian law allows people to film anything that is in the public forum.
"As long as you don't interfere in any way with the actions of a police officer ... you have the right to film an arrest," he said. "If you were to get in the way or interfere with the actions of a police officer, that could be an offence."
Meanwhile, MacDonald said under some circumstances police can seize evidence, such as cellphone video footage, without a warrant.
"It's a bit of a grey area," he said. "I could see in certain circumstances they have the right to seize that evidence to preserve it even without a warrant."
However, MacDonald said erasing or destroying a video is obstruction of justice.