String of disciplinary hearings, charges and lawsuits follow 2010 EPS beating of 29-year-old man
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- Type of Abuse
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210,007
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String of disciplinary hearings, charges and lawsuits follow 2010 EPS beating of 29-year-old man
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11 February 2010
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In January of 2010, several police officers arrived at the home of Kazimierz Kozina's parents to search for drugs, as they suspected Kozina of drug trafficking. According to Kozina, several officers including Constable Redlick told him they wanted to "beat the shit" out of him. In February 2010, Constables Jack Redlick, Jason Kemp, Craig Offin and Phil Leeman arranged a 'buy and bust' from Kozina. After Kozina sold drugs to an undercover Leeman in the front seat of a Pontiac Sunfire, Redlick and Kemp approached the vehicle, Redlick with his gun drawn, and opened the passenger door and ordered Kozina out of the vehicle. They claim that Kozina pressed himself into the seat, and as Kemp reached into the car and grabbed Kozina's clothing, he began to flail his arms. Kemp punched him twice with "full speed and power", and Redlick threw three additional punches, two at Kozina's head, in what he claims was an attempt to get Kozina out of the car. CBC News summarized their testimony of the rest of the incident - ""The fight was on immediately outside the car as well," [Kemp] said. Redlick testified, "I shove him as hard as I can with both hands straight down to the ground. Then he tries to get back on his feet. "I yell at him again to stay down. I don't want to punch him in the back of the head because it will break my hand." Instead, Redlick hit Kozina on the back of the head with an open palm. Const. Offin [another undercover officer] also entered the fray. "This is happening fairly quickly," he had testified earlier. "You just rely on your training to do what is necessary." Offin was also charged, but the charge against him was dropped when he resigned from the police service. He testified Wednesday as a witness. Offin said he delivered two strikes to Kozina's back in an attempt to control him. Kemp said he "delivered five or six short kind of rabbit jabs to his mid-section." While Kozina continued to flail on the ground, more officers ran to assist. In the confusion, Kemp said an officer punched him in the back of the head, someone else grabbed his legs by mistake, and a third officer even jumped on his shoulders and drove his head into the ground. Kemp described it as a "melee," while Offin called it a "schmozz," with "a bunch of bodies and arms going everywhere." Kemp said, "I overheard Kazimierz yelling out, 'Why are you doing this?'" Kemp said he pleaded with the suspect to just "give me your hands and we will stop." Kozina was handcuffed and led to a police car. He had to be taken to hospital that night. He suffered a fractured orbital bone that ultimately required reconstructive surgery, plus cuts, bruises and a spinal injury." (CBC News, June 3, 2016). A witness, EPS officer Derek Huff, later estimated that between 15-20 punches were thrown once Kozina was handcuffed on the ground, and described Kozina's condition saying “His face was a great big giant black ball … of blood and bruising,” said Huff. “It looked like he had a gotten into a full head-on collision and smashed his head into a steering wheel.” (CBC News, Sept 27, 2013) Huff claimed that Kemp's injury, which Kemp blamed on Kozina and used as justification for his use of force, was a result of a mislaid punch from another officer.
Kozina launched a formal complaint against the officers involved in 2010, which was dismissed by Chief Mike Boyd later that year. Kozina appealed to the Law Enforcement Review Board (LERB), which required the new Chief Rod Knecht to re-examine the allegations. Knecht sent the matter to a disciplinary hearing, which dismissed Police Act charges against the officers in July 2016. The presiding officer in that review, retired Court of Queen's Bench judge Mel Binder, described Constable Redlick in glowing terms - "Const. Redlick struck me as a solid, street-smart, hard-nosed but fair police officer, with basic common sense, who would tell it as it is and who would call a spade a spade" (CBC News, July 21, 2016), a statement that Kozina's lawyer Tom Engel noted was particularly problematic. In the same hearing, two other EPS officers (one of whom Kozina accused of participating in the assault) testified that they "didn't recall" seeing Huff at the scene of the incident, and claimed that Kozina was resisting the arrest, justifying Redlick and Kemp's actions. Kozina again appealed this decision to LERB, which upheld the it. As of 2021, he is seeking a judicial review of the decision. A separate ASIRT investigation concluded in 2014 with no charges against the officers.
Kozina filed a lawsuit in September 2015 for $1 million in damages for physical and psychological injuries that affected his ability to work. Kozina's lawsuit alleged that police attempted to cover up the incident and failed to disclose brutality allegations that were made by a witness (a former EPS officer) to CBC in 2013. That officer, Derek Huff, told CBC that he repeatedly reported his concerns about the arrest and how it was characterized in the arresting officers' reports, resulting in mistreatment from his fellow officers for breaking the "code of silence" (Edmonton Journal, Sept 27, 2019). In June 2012 Huff went to the deputy chief and wrote a formal complaint, which was sent to ASIRT, triggering an investigation. The Edmonton Sun reported that the handling of the incident led to the transfer of several constables, a staff sergeant and a superintendent (Edmonton Sun, Sept 30, 2013). Huff resigned from the force in February 2013 and filed a lawsuit against the City of Edmonton and EPS, along with the current and former police chiefs and several officers and supervisors, claiming that following his whistleblowing on the incident he was harassed by other EPS staff to the point it affected his mental health and a diagnosis of PTSD; the lawsuit was dropped in November 2014. CBC News reported in 2016 that Huff was facing two criminal charges for uttering death threats against Redlick and Kemp in an email to another officer, but the Archive team has yet to locate information about the outcome of that case.
Kozina pled guilty to trafficking in a controlled substance and obstruction of a peace officer on Oct. 25, 2011, but later submitted an appeal on the basis that Huff's information had not been disclosed. The Court of Appeal set aside his guilty plea and quashed his conviction on July 14, 2015.
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Non-eyewitness, based on documentation
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Edmonton
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Fractured orbital bone;
Cuts;
Bruises;
Spinal injury
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Hands and feet
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Physical violence
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Man
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White
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Edmonton Police Service
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Several officers involved; primary assailant bald white man, 6'4"
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Man
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White
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Kozina filed Professional Standards Branch complaint 2010, dismissed 2010;
Kozina appealed dismissal, case was sent to disciplinary hearing and dismissed in July 2016;
Kozina appealed to Law Enforcement Review Board (LERB), decision upheld (Kozina v Redlick 2019 ABQB749);
Kozina seeking judicial review as of 2021;
ASIRT investigation opened 2012, concluded in 2014 with no charges
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Kozina filed a lawsuit 2015;
Huff filed a lawsuit 2013, dropped it in November 2014;
Huff charged for uttering death threats against Constables Redlick and Kemp 2016 (outcome unknown);
Kozima pled guilty to trafficking in a controlled substance & obstructing a police officer Oct 25, 2011, but later appealed, conviction quashed July 14, 2015.
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Research team
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From published source
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18 November 2021
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