Investigation result: Alberta Mountie accused of assaulting man under arrest
By The Canadian Press
SLAVE LAKE, Alta. – An RCMP officer is accused of beating up a man while he was under arrest at the Slave Lake detachment in northern Alberta in September 2017.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team says the Mountie had taken in the highly intoxicated man and was booking him on a mischief charge.
ASIRT, which was called in to review what happened, says the 30-year-old man was changing clothes and threw a shirt at the officer.
The police watchdog says video from the detachment shows an officer taking a man to the ground, repeatedly punching him in the head, kneeing him in the back, and pushing his head into the floor.
Charges against the man were eventually withdrawn, but ASIRT’s investigation resulted in the Crown deciding there were grounds to prosecute the officer.
Const. Licio Soares, who is 34, is charged with one count of assault.
Soares, who has been with the RCMP for seven years, is to appear in Slave Lake provincial court on July 10.
There is no change to his duty status.
