Items

• Woman assaulted during wellness check

  **The account below is a community submission to the Archive. It has been anonymized to protect the identity of the person(s) and agency involved. This account is a personal reflection based on lived experience and opinions. All incidents are allegations not proven in a court of law, and the Archive does not investigate the veracity of reported incidents.** On May 23 around 1:30 pm, I had walked from my home to a park bench while experiencing an autistic meltdown. My partner was worried about me and called the police, with the understanding that they would send a crisis intervention team paired with an AHS mental health specialist to assess the situation and ensure my safety. A screenshot of the PACT (Police and Crisis Response Team) policy from their website is attached. I texted [my partner] with my exact GPS coordinates. There were other witnesses there that can attest to me sitting/lying peacefully (though crying) on the park bench. [My partner] came and found me. We embraced. She consoled me. And she told me I’d have to talk to the police before we went home. I said “I don’t want to talk to the police” (bad experiences, go figure). When the male officer who had just came into my field of vision said my “boyfriend” was pretty worried about me, I responded “not my boyfriend” (as she is trans). IMMEDIATELY both officers had their hands on me (the female officer from behind on my left (I hadn’t even seen her), and the male officer right in my face. I didn’t recall until later that in this moment I screamed. The same blood curdling scream I’ve let out when assaulted previously. I left my body. I wasn’t there. I was again a powerless child in the vice grip of my abusive father. The male officer then slapped me in the face. From there they were dragging me, tackling me, trying to restrain me, threatening to taze me, and never telling me why. [My partner], who had made the call in the first place, was BEGGING them to stop, asking them why they were escalating, pleaded with them to stop. The male officer then threatened to taze her and put her in a choke hold and dragged her away from me. We tried telling them I’m autistic (I am). They laughed and called me a “fucking retard”. I submitted and let them tackle me to the ground and cuff me. 4 officers had me pinned and I couldn’t breathe. I am a 5’5” average frame woman. They dragged me across the grass to the cop car. One of my shoes fell off and they slammed me against the side of the car and kicked my legs open to pat me down for weapons before tossing me in the back of the car where I could see my partner lying on the ground having a panic attack. The officers then proceeded to tell me repeatedly that I didn’t know how lucky I was that they didn’t “punch me out” in the face. And they mocked [my partner] for calling the police for “help” and then refusing said “help”. They kept me in cuffs for 4 hours. I spent 2.5 in the waiting room at the hospital. I was not permitted any water until [my partner] happened to find me there and asked the staff and police attending to me if she could get me some. I had asked for water repeatedly and the cops refused. I had literally had a psychiatrist appointment earlier that day and she swapped my meds for the following day because my Vyvanse was preventing me from eating and drinking. I was on the tail end of an autistic meltdown after regulating myself with a walk when the police tackled me, beat me, berated me, and then denied me basic human rights like water and even a phone call. (Since I wasn’t under arrest, they didn’t need to give me a call). They told [my partner] once she got to the hospital that the reason I was in cuffs is because under the Mental Health Act, they “can”. Again… forgetting that the EPS has the PACT policy in place. How could the cops justify holding me under the Mental Health Act when they didn’t follow the procedure to ensure they weren’t violating that very act? The cops were not wearing body cams in spite of there province mandating their use in 2023: I was told this was a “pilot”—in other words, they’ve had a mandate for 2 years to get body cams on cops and still haven’t. Why is there no publicly register for police officers? I cannot look up these MFers last names nor badge numbers to confirm their status. As far as I know there’s zero transparency for cops with black marks on their records. Who watches the watchman. Pictures enclosed of my bruising."
• Aggressive Search of Community Agency

  **The account below is a community submission to the Archive. It has been anonymized to protect the identity of the person(s) and agency involved. This account is a personal reflection based on lived experience and opinions. All incidents are allegations not proven in a court of law, and the Archive does not investigate the veracity of reported incidents.** On May 26, 2025, at approximately 3:37 PM, [staff member], the [position], was outside the [downtown community agency] building with youth and another staff member when two uniformed Edmonton Police Service (EPS) officers approached the entrance. [Staff member], following what had been communicated from the beginning of [their] employment as [agency]’s standing “no police inside the building” policy (designed to maintain a trauma-informed, low-barrier space), gently attempted to intercept the officers. [Staff member] greeted them calmly with a smile and offered to bring out a frontline worker to speak with them, per protocol. Before [staff member] could finish speaking, one of the officers grabbed [their] arms and pushed [them] aside, nearly knocking [them] down. [They] began bruising immediately and was left visibly distressed. The same officer proceeded to threaten [staff member] and three other frontline staff members with arrest, accusing them of “obstructing justice.” He claimed they were in “hot pursuit” of an armed suspect allegedly inside the building. However, neither officer had their weapons drawn, and the search was brief and careless, with no clear urgency or safety precautions in place. No one on staff had witnessed the alleged suspect acting aggressively or violently, and no weapons were seen.
• Victim suffers injuries during police arrest.

  The victim alleges that on June 29, 2011, Constable Bradley Pearce and Constable Derek McIntyre caused bodily harm while arresting him for violating his parole. Tam Nguyen, a case worker at Independence Apartments halfway house testified he saw officers dragging victim up the stairs and Const. Pearce strike the parolee in the head with an open hand. The victim received three stitches to his head and suffered two black eyes and a swollen cheek. Because initial prosecutor proceeded summarily rather than by indictment in provincial docket court, the judge declared a mistrial.
• Victim who was cooperating suffers serious injuries when officer releases police dog to attack

  The victim alleges that in 2009, Constable Dzioba pulled him over for a missing licence plate. The Statement of Claim states that the victim cooperated by getting out of the car, placing his keys on the ground, putting his hands behind his head and approaching the officer to surrender. Despite this, the victim claims that Dzioba deployed his police dog without any warning or prior instruction to the victim. The victim suffered extensive injuries as the dog bit him for several minutes, resulting in permanent injuries and muscle damage. In 2012, Dzioba was due to attend a disciplinary hearing for unlawful or unnecessary exercise of authority and deceit with relation to this event. He turned in his badge and resigned the day before the hearing was meant to occur.
• Two men assaulted while handcuffed during arrest; officer charged and convicted

  In the early morning of December 15, 2008, Lauchlin Torry and Jean-Marc Viau were pulled over by Constable Haoyin Zheng during a vehicle stop near 145 Street and 104 Avenue. Torry and Viau were ordered out of the truck, which was later found to have been stolen. Police searched the men and found a piece of a coat hanger in Torry’s back pocket. While being handcuffed and put into the back of the police car, Torry and Viau report that they were beaten by Zheng. Torry testified in court that Zheng yelled at him, called him a “druggie”, and punched him on the cheek. During the trial, Constable Brad Stiksma testified that he heard Torry yell for help and noticed a fresh red scrape on his chin. Earlier in the trial, Viau testified that he was sitting handcuffed in the back of the police cruiser when Zheng leaned in, struck him with a flashlight three times, and repeatedly punched him in the head. After reporting pain in his ribs, Viau was taken to the hospital following the arrest. Viau was treated for bruising and was later released from the hospital. Zheng was charged with two counts of assault and one count of assault with a weapon in the alleged beating of Lauchlin Torry and Jean-Marc Viau. The judge ruled that Zheng used excessive force against Viau and he was found guilty of assault, receiving a conditional discharge, 12 months probation, and restriction to administrative duties. Zheng would later be convicted of another assault charge in an on-duty incident from 2010 and would resign from the Edmonton Police Service.
• Victim hit repeatedly by officer in on-duty assault; officer resigns after conviction

  Officer Haoyin Zheng was charged with and convicted of assault after a 2010 incident in which he repeatedly physically assaulted an intoxicated man in a condo hallway. Sean Andrew Spicer had returned to his condo building drunk and had broken a glass door, trying to enter the residence after losing his keys. Officers were called to the scene, and while arresting him, Spicer reported that Zheng delivered several head stuns, knocked him to the ground, and hit him with additional stuns to the body while he was down. This use of force resulted in injuries to his shoulders, ribs, back and head. Spicer’s mother, Bonnie, says that her son no longer trusts the police. “We don’t want people like this as police officers” Zheng was found guilty of assaulting Spicer in a provincial court and resigned shortly after his conviction. Zheng has previously been convicted of assault in violent on-duty interactions, which Crown prosecutor Matt Dalidowicz argues is a “pattern of behaviour”. Zheng was found guilty of two counts of assault in November 2011. Earlier that year, Zheng was found guilty of an unrelated assault that occurred while he was making an arrest. He received a conditional discharge, 12 months probation, and was restricted to administrative duties in that conviction, stemming from a December 2008 case.
• Assault within family by police officer

  An individual was allegedly assaulted by the officer in a family-related incident in July 2007.
• Two sleeping men tasered by police after forced entry into hotel room

  At approximately 02:00 hours on November 27, 2003, three men were sleeping in a room at the Cromdale hotel. Without the occupants' consent their room was entered by four police officers who were searching for an armed suspect in a robbery. Two of the men who were sleeping were subjected to a taser on stun mode. The police stated it was used to wake them up. The three men were detained and eventually released without charges. The police officer did not have sufficient ground to detain or arrest any of the men.
• 22-year-old on crutches assaulted by off duty police officer

  On December 18th, 2005 early in the morning, the victim was hailing a cab with his crutch. He had recently undergone knee surgery. Officer Wasylyshen and some colleagues were off-duty and drinking, and had just gotten out of a cab. Wasylyshen noticed the individual and started to verbally attack him (calling him a "cripple"). In return the victim yelled back. Wasylyshen approached the victim and struck him with a closed fist in the left ear. Wasylyshen's friends held him back after this. The victim then called two friends, who arrived shortly after. The group of three crossed the street. Wasylyshen followed them, there was a violent exchange between Wasylyshen and the victim's two friends, in which the friends pinned the police officer to the ground. At this point two loss prevention officers from a 7-11 decided to get involved. While they were separating the group, Wasylyshen uttered threats to the officers and struck one of them.
• Victim assaulted while detained and then released in river valley

  The victim, at the time unhoused and dealing with substance use issues, was asked to leave a 7-11 store. Police intervened while he was sleeping in the store, made physical contact to wake him up and asked him to leave. He returned to the store and was asked to leave again as he would be charged with public intoxication and trespass. The victim and the police travelled about three blocks before the incident continued. The victim was threatened with arrest for not identifying himself. While being handcuffed, Cst. O'Mara took the victim to the ground, punching him twice in the head, once while already handcuffed. Witnesses decribed the force as being excessive, recalling that the victim's head hit the pavement hard, causing a cut and substantial bleeding, with blood left on the sidewalk. The police then loaded the victim in the car and drove him south of the river to a different neighbourhood before releasing him. The police disabled the computer system that controlled GPS tracking before driving the victim, and only filed a report of a "Street Check".