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Two years after Rob Wright was taken to the floor by an RCMP officer in a Terrace, B.C., jail cell, video of the incident has drawn outrage and renewed calls for an investigation.
“It appears on the video that this brutal takedown was an excessive use of force. Mr. Wright was kneeling on a bench, cuffed, and posing no apparent threat at the time that a constable smashed him to the floor, breaking his head open and leaving a pool of blood.”
Rob Wright, who is now unable to care for himself, filed a lawsuit against the RCMP and the province in January but has amended his statement of claim.
The First Nations man, who was a construction worker, alleges Const. Brian Heideman’s excessive use of force was exacerbated by the officer’s use of steroids that “caused him to be unduly aggressive and violent.”
Scott Stanley, Wright’s lawyer, said the amendment was made after unrelated allegations surfaced about Heideman’s use and distribution of steroids.
Stanley said the video is so graphic that he found it difficult to watch.
“As a lawyer you have to, unfortunately, look at it more than once. When I saw his face dragged across the floor and the blood smear left that’s what disturbed me the most,” he said.
“He sustained a very significant brain injury that in this instance has caused the near destruction of the quality of his life.”
Prisk said her husband was taken to hospital and returned to the cell twice on the night he hit his head and then transported back to hospital the following morning.
But she had no idea he’d been injured or was in and out of hospital when she showed up at the police station on the morning after his arrest, Prisk said.
“They never called me to tell he was transported to hospital.”
Wright spent 11 weeks in hospital and a total of 15 weeks at a rehabilitation centre in Vancouver following the injury, Prisk said.
“It’s been a nightmare,” she said, adding her husband gets care in a nursing home when she needs a break but staff are sometimes unable to manage him there because he tends to wander and is often confused.
“He tried to tell me I have other children and I don’t,” she said.
Wright’s statement of claim says he is seeking unspecified damages for pain and suffering, medical expenses, past and future wage loss and other costs.
Agencies/Canadajournal
