Officer acquitted of assaulting boy despite video of the incident By: Katie May Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Wednesday, Sep. 26, 2018 Last Modified: 10:55 PM CDT Wednesday, Sep. 26, 2018 Updates

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A Winnipeg Police Service officer who was allegedly captured on video slapping a 12-year-old boy was acquitted of assault Wednesday after a judge decided the video was unclear.

Christian Paul Guyot, 44, was found not guilty on one count of assault after a one-day provincial court trial that focused on a short cellphone video the boy’s sister recorded when two Winnipeg Police Service officers were called to an Inkster Boulevard home in August 2017.

The video appears to show a bald, male uniformed police officer raising his arm to hit the boy, who was swearing at police. The alleged assault wasn’t captured on the recording, but “the sound of forceful skin on skin contact” was, Judge Ryan Rolston ruled. The minute-long video only briefly shows the officer’s face, and Rolston ultimately decided he couldn’t be certain it depicted Guyot no matter how many times he watched it.

“Only one male has been presented to me: Mr. Guyot. I have, in a sense, been asked to confirm that the man in the video is him. I can freeze the video at 34 seconds in and stare at it for as long as I want, but it does nothing to enhance my ability to say conclusively that it’s Mr. Guyot, other than to say that the appearance is consistent with Mr. Guyot,” Rolston said.

“I can’t rule Mr. Guyot out; in fact, I can say that he is probably that man. But what I cannot do is say that that definitely is the man without something more by way of confirmatory evidence,” the judge added.

The boy didn’t show up to testify, and a warrant for his arrest was issued Tuesday. Before closing its case Wednesday, the Crown called only one witness: the boy’s older sister, who said she started filming on her phone after police arrived at her home.

Based on the video, the judge said he believed the assault happened.

“In what appears to be a shocking degree of lack of self-control, the male officer evidently strikes a young boy who has been mouthing off at him,” the judge said.

There was no evidence introduced in court to identify Guyot as the police officer who responded to the boy’s home. The boy’s mother had called police to try to get him to calm down because the boy was upset and was damaging property in the home, according to testimony from the boy’s sister. The boy continued to swear at police and went into his bedroom, where the officer “smacked him,” his sister testified.

After the alleged assault, while two officers are escorting the boy outside, the boy says the officer “smacked” him in the head. The male officer can be heard on video telling the boy to “show some f–ing respect” and “shut the f— up.”

“All of this indirect evidence leads to only one logical conclusion: the male officer struck the young person without the young person’s consent,” Rolston said, describing the video as a “reliable recording” of the boy’s comments.

But the key issue in the case was the identity of the male officer in the video. Guyot’s defence lawyers didn’t agree he was in the video, and when the boy’s sister testified, she was unable to pick out the officer in the courtroom. Guyot, dressed in a grey suit, was seated behind his defence lawyers in the left corner of the small courtroom, which was full of observers Wednesday. After the 21-year-old woman glanced in Guyot’s direction, as well as toward another bald man sitting in the courtroom, she said she was “not sure” whether the officer in the video was present.

“Aside from counsel’s comments, which isn’t evidence, there is no evidence as to the fact that Mr. Guyot is a Winnipeg city police officer. There is no evidence that if he was, he was on shift on August 7, 2017, and there is also no evidence that he attended (the home) on the day in question,” Rolston said.

The female officer who was present in the boy’s bedroom when the alleged assault happened was not called to testify in court.

Asked why the Crown didn’t call other evidence to prove the police officer’s identity, Brandon Crown attorney Kaley Tschetter referred questions to a justice department spokesperson.

A spokeswoman for the prosecution said “it would be inappropriate to go into detail about the evidence of particular witnesses on a specific case.”

“Speaking more generally, the Crown organizes and plans its case based on the evidence that it expects the court will hear from the witnesses. Much can happen in a trial and for any number of reasons what is expected does not always occur.”

Guyot, a 16-year member of the Winnipeg Police Service, was charged last November after Manitoba’s Independent Investigation Unit decided there were “reasonable” grounds a crime occurred.

Earlier Wednesday, Rolston rejected a defence motion asking him to throw out the case for lack of evidence. Defence lawyers Hymie Weinstein and Lisa Labossiere argued the video didn’t identify Guyot and that the Crown failed to prove the assault beyond a reasonable doubt. Tschetter argued the video “quite clearly” shows Guyot and asked Rolston to decide for himself — a task Rolston compared to being asked to pick an accused out of a prisoners’ lineup.

Outside the courtroom, Weinstein said the defence is pleased with the verdict and said Guyot didn’t want to speak to reporters.

“Naturally, it’s been a stressful year for our client,” he said.

The Free Press requested a copy of the video, which was presented as a public court exhibit. After acquitting Guyot because he couldn’t be identified beyond a reasonable doubt based on the video, Rolston asked Crown and defence lawyers whether they would agree to release the video. Both sides were opposed, citing concerns the video could identify those involved. Labossiere argued police could have safety concerns if the officers in it, or others who look like them, are identified.

Rolston agreed the video is a public court exhibit and can be released as long as the boy is not identified, as per a court-ordered publication ban.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay

Katie May
Reporter

Katie May is a general-assignment reporter for the Free Press.

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