THUNDER BAY – Two paramedics testified Monday they felt a police takedown of an intoxicated man nine years ago felt aggressive.
Michael Dimini, a sergeant with the Thunder Bay Police Service, is charged with assault in relation to an incident outside of St. Joseph’s Heritage in the early morning hours of Oct. 25, 2016.
The officer’s alleged use of force when arresting the complainant is being questioned during a trial this week at the Thunder Bay Courthouse.
Parmedics Jonathan Woodbeck and Christopher Palmer were working for Superior North EMS in 2016 and responded to a call for service at St. Joseph’s Heritage regarding a disturbance at an apartment building and two intoxicated individuals needing assistance.
Both took the witness stand on Tuesday.
Woodbeck didn’t recall many details from the encounter as it occurred nine years ago but was able to refer to the ambulance call report he wrote later that day.
He told the court the patient didn’t want to go to the hospital and he was trying to coax him to be assessed. Woodbeck said the complainant appeared intoxicated.
Two Thunder Bay police officers were also on scene and Woodbeck said at some point the complainant became aggressive and “made sort of a charge at the officer," which he described during cross-examination as “more of a drunken stumble.”
The ambulance call report stated the complainant grew aggressive, said derogatory comments about the police, which the police didn’t seem to like, and the complainant was taken down to the ground.
“I can remember him being taken down, pulled up and taken to the vehicle,” said Woodbeck.
Palmer took the witness stand Tuesday afternoon and said he remembers this incident as it was different than what he was used to when dealing with the police, “just the level of force for that incident.”
Palmer described the complainant as calm and cooperative until the police arrived. There was yelling back and forth between the complainant and one of the officers and Palmer said it sounded like the two men had history.
Once the patient started walking towards the officer, Palmer said the officer grabbed the complainant by the neck or shirt.
“I remember a lift up and a slam down,” said Palmer. “When he was slammed down, the upper portion of his body hit our stretcher and the lower part hit the ground.”
Palmer said he was shocked by the officer’s action.
As the police began to take the complainant to their vehicle, Palmer said he asked if he and Woodbeck would still be taking the complainant to the hospital. Palmer said the officer said no, that they were taking him.
Palmer said he didn’t notice any injuries to the complainant after he was pulled up from the ground.
Both Palmer and Woodbeck said they told their supervisor about the incident and then completed an incident report.
During cross-examination, Palmer was shown the ambulance incident report filled out by Woodbeck. Both paramedics had signed the report the afternoon of Oct. 25, 2016.
The defence asked Palmer about the inconsistencies in his testimony now and what was written in the nine-year-old report.
Palmer had testified the complainant was on the stretcher about to have his vitals checked when police arrived, but that was not in the report. The report said they were trying to convince the man to get on the stretcher.
The defence also asked if the complainant was walking towards the officers, is it accurate Palmer would only have been able to see the complainant’s back and not see where the officer may have grabbed him. Palmer agreed he would have only been able to see the man’s back.
When asked if maybe what he was testifying to today was not accurate, Palmer said it was possible.
Dimini was charged in 2023 by the OPP with two counts of assault, one count of breach of trust and one count of obstruction of justice.
In late February one of the assault charges was dismissed after a four-day trial.
