An arrest at the centre of a trial for an RCMP dog handler accused of using excessive force was "high risk," a fellow RCMP officer testified Thursday.
Cpl. Joshua Grafton faces one count each of assault, assault with a weapon and obstruction of justice in relation to an early-morning Feb. 18, 2016 arrest of two men - Cuyler Aubichon and Nathaniel Basil - after police boxed in their stolen pickup truck in an alley off the 2200 block of Oak Street.
Cst. Brandon MacDonald said he had his gun drawn, low and at the ready, as he approached the truck.
"It was a high risk arrest," MacDonald said, adding there was a chance police would be dealing with "weapons of opportunity" if not firearms.
"We had people in a stolen vehicle, or presumably the people in the vehicle knew that it was stolen. They potentially had weapons of opportunity... being a pickup truck in the dead of winter in Prince George, it was not unreasonable to think they had a small snow shovel, tire irons, equipment to change a tire if need be, like I think most people in northern B.C. have in their vehicle, so those are all considered weapons of opportunity."
Under questioning from Crown prosecution, MacDonald also recounted the moments leading up to the arrest. A member of the Prince George RCMP's plain clothes street crew unit at the time, MacDonald said he was asked to start his shift earlier than usual to help track down a stolen pickup truck that was seen heading from the Hart into the VLA neighbourhood.
Driving an unmarked vehicle, MacDonald said he spotted a truck matching the description at about 6 a.m. parked in a driveway at the corner of Diefenbaker Drive and Quince Street. He parked about 100 metres away and, via police radio, notified the other officers assigned to the case.
Eventually, MacDonald said he noticed what appeared to be a male get into the driver's side of the truck and then saw the truck pull out onto Diefenbaker and make its way over to the alley off Milburn Avenue between Oak and Norwood streets, then pull into a driveway at the back of one of the homes.
It was at that moment, MacDonald said, that he and the four other officers involved agreed on a plan to box the truck in the alley once it had left the home. Some 10-to-15 minutes later, they put the plan into action when the truck pulled out.
By then, MacDonald had circled around to Strathcona and expected to be the first into the alley but, with police coming from the other end of the alley with their lights on, he was initially blocked by a "looky-loo" who had slowed down to see what was going on and then by two other police vehicles. His vehicle ended up being the third into the alley from the north side while two others had come in from the south side.
MacDonald said he got out of his vehicle and approached the truck's driver's side, where Grafton was in the process of arresting Aubichon. By the time he had reached the hood of the truck, he holstered his gun but noted the two suspects were still "fighting with police, still attempting to escape."
As fellow officers were apprehending Aubichon and Basil, MacDonald said he noticed someone at the back of the scene who initially appeared to be a "potential third threat" but turned out to be a member of Prince George Fire Rescue as he got nearer.
The trial stems from video from a security camera posted on social media and obtained by media that suggests excessive force was used when Grafton deployed a dog to pull Aubichon out of the truck's driver side.
In October, a trial for two other Prince George RCMP members who arrested Basil, the passenger in the truck, was cut short after Crown stayed its prosecution, citing a lack of sufficient evidence. The Crown's case against the two was already tenuous as the truck blocked the view of that apprehension.
It took more than two years for the Independent Investigations Office, which investigates instances of police-involved deaths and serious injuries, to submit its findings to the B.C. Prosecution Service and, in turn, another two years before charges against the three were approved.
The trial before judge alone continues Tuesday at the Prince George courthouse.
