THUNDER BAY — Closing submissions were heard on Thursday in the trial for a Thunder Bay police officer charged with assault.
Staff Sgt. Michael Dimini is facing an assault charge following the arrest of a man outside of St. Joseph’s Heritage in the early morning hours of Oct. 25, 2016.
Dimini was one of two officers who responded to a call for service for an intoxicated man who was being escorted to an ambulance by paramedics.
Whether the use of force used by Dimini in taking the man to the ground was a proportionate and measured response has been the subject of the week-long trial.
Defence lawyer Michelle O’Doherty argued Dimini’s goal was to get the man to a safe place and not make the situation worse since he had previous confrontations with the police.
O’Doherty also stated that he had to control the situation in a split second, put the man in handcuffs and lift the man up.
“Everything happened so quickly and he had to react,” said O’Doherty.
O’Doherty said the incident occurred in a short period of time, ranging from 1 minute 17 seconds to 1 minute 20 seconds.
She added that Dimini’s testimony from Wednesday also had reliability issues since he learned about the allegations seven years after the incident.
If Dimini’s evidence was rejected, O’Doherty said it would prove nothing can be clear as to what happened.
She supported this point by referencing the testimonies of many witnesses who also had inconsistent recollections of the incident. In the case of the two paramedics, O’Doherty further noted that they may have mixed up facts with later calls.
However, Crown lawyer Vlatko Karadzic argued that while the witnesses were reporting from their own vantage points and developing their own interpretations that could cloud memories, all the witnesses had the same observations.
“Everyone found it excessive except (the) accused,” said Karadzic.
He stated that at the time force was used, the man was no threat due to intoxication.
Karadzic said that Dimini had the “hallmarks of a dishonest witness.”
He noted that among many examples, there was no explanation for the diligence of how Dimini followed policy, why he testified that three people were holding the man who broke free to charge him and even why he didn’t speak with the woman accompanying the man before acting.
According to Karadzic, Dimini did not say he was going to arrest the man and chose to go directly to hard takedown.
He also stated that there was no reason for Dimini to return to the scene unless to cause the security guard, who had expressed concerns about the arrest, not to place a complaint.
O’Doherty stated earlier in her submissions that evaluating the accuracy of what was asked of the guard should not impact evidence. Dimini also denied asking questions about where the guard worked or lived, she added.
O’Doherty also argued that Dimini’s post-conduct is only relevant if he is trying to cover up something he thinks is excessive, which is irrelevant without knowing how excessive the act was.
The trial will resume Friday morning, at which point Justice Mara Greene plans to have a decision on the case.
