The Attorney General of Canada is defending the actions of Kelowna RCMP officer Const. Lacey Browning in a second lawsuit filed against the officer that stems from a 2016 incident. But the lawsuit may never even make it to court.
Const. Browning is currently on desk duty and under investigation after Glacier Media published video of the officer dragging nursing student Mona Wang through the halls of her apartment and stepping on her head during a “wellness check” near UBC Okanagan.
Shortly after Wang's civil suit was filed, and the subsequent internal and criminal investigations by the Kelowna RCMP were started, Fiona Read filed a separate suit against Const. Browning, claiming the officer assaulted her more than four years prior.
In a filed response to the suit last week, the Attorney General of Canada, representing the RCMP, said Const. Browning arrested Read in the early morning hours of New Year's Eve on Kelowna's Lone Pine Court because the officer thought Read was planning to drive intoxicated.
Const. Browning says Read was “extremely intoxicated” and resisted arrest, but eventually, with the help of another officer, Read was handcuffed and put into the back of the RCMP vehicle.
Read claims Const. Browning "grabbed her by her hair and pounded her head into the ground multiple times causing damage to the plaintiff's face." But the Attorney General's response says Read never asked for any medical attention during the incident, and her “injuries did not appear serious enough to require medical attention."
“Cst. Browning was justified in using as much force as necessary to gain control of the Plaintiff,” the Attorney General's response states. “The force used by Cst. Browning was no more than was reasonable and necessary in the circumstances to gain direct compliance of the Plaintiff and in fact was insufficient to gain compliance before help arrived.”
But the Attorney General is seeking to have the entire case dismissed, as Read's civil claim was filed two and a half years after the two-year deadline to file the claim had expired. Read says she only became aware that she had a legitimate claim against Const. Browning after reading about Mona Wang's case.
That application to dismiss the suit will be heard in the Kelowna's Supreme Court next spring.
Meanwhile, Const. Browning remains on desk duty as criminal and internal conduct investigations are ongoing into the officer's treatment of Mona Wang from January of this year. The officer is also facing a third civil suit for an alleged 2019 incident.
