A second woman has accused Kelowna RCMP officer Const. Lacey Browning of assaulting her, while the officer was on duty.
The second lawsuit comes after UBC Okanagan student Mona Wang's suit against the officer received national attention, following Castanet's publishing of a disturbing video showing Const. Browning dragging Wang through her apartment hallway, before stepping on her head back in January of this year.
A second lawsuit against Const. Browning and the RCMP was filed in Kelowna court Wednesday, July 15, stemming from an incident in the early hours of Jan. 1, 2016.
The suit claims Fiona Read was walking home following a New Year's Eve party at her friend's neighbour's house, after having some sort of dispute with her friends. Read had become uncomfortable at the party and rather than stay at her friend's house overnight, she wanted to walk home, but her friends reportedly tried to stop her from leaving.
Eventually, once she was able to leave, Read came upon an RCMP vehicle stopped in the middle of the road near the house. According to the suit, she felt she was "in need of protection" and sought help from the officer. But when she approached the officer, the officer, later identified as Const. Browning, asked her to confirm her name was Fiona, which she did.
“Upon the plaintiff confirming to Browning her name was Fiona, Browning grabbed the plaintiff, flipped her around, grabbed her by her hair and pounded her head into the ground multiple times causing damage to the plaintiff's face,” the suit states. “The plaintiff lost count of how many times her face was slammed into concrete.”
Read was arrested and taken to the RCMP detachment, where she was allegedly detained for more than six hours, without being told why. Const. Browning allegedly never asked Read any other questions other than what her name was.
Read was fingerprinted at the detachment, and was eventually told she was being charged with assault and resisting arrest, but the BC Prosecution Service never laid any charges against Read. The lawsuit claims “Browning charged the plaintiff in order to cover up her assault on the plaintiff.”
As a result of the alleged violent arrest, Read's face was bruised and swollen, chunks of her hair were pulled out, and her right knee was injured.
“As a result of the brutal assault by Browning, the plaintiff had to permanently quit running and skiing due to the severity of the injury to her knee,” the suit states.
“The actions of Browning and the RCMP were reckless, arrogant, high-handed, abusive, and showed a callous disregards to the plaintiff's rights. Browning and the RCMP have engaged in conduct that is reprehensible and deserves punishment.”
The following day, Read claims she attempted to make a formal complaint to Const. Browning's supervisor, but the supervisor refused to accept the complaint.
“The supervisor intimidated and drove fear in the plaintiff. The undermining of the plaintiff's belief and intimidation by the supervisor caused the plaintiff to act against her self-interests, thereby not pursuing any formal complaint or legal action against Browning and the RCMP,” the suit states, alleging this is evidence of the RCMP covering up Const. Browning's actions.
“The plaintiff only became aware that she had a right to complain and take legal action against Browning' actions following media reports about recent allegations against Browning and the RCMP's statements that 'they take complaints seriously.'”
Castanet has reached out to the RCMP for a response to this second suit against Const. Browning. Earlier this month, Southeast District RCMP chief superintendent Brad Haugli said a criminal investigation into Const. Browning's actions against Wang would be forwarded to the Crown by mid-July, but BC Prosecution Service spokesperson Alisia Adams said she “has no information to share in relation to that matter at this time.”
Const. Browning was placed on desk duty last month, while the criminal investigation and internal code of conduct investigations are ongoing.
An online petition calling for the firing and charging of Const. Browning in regards to the Wang incident has reached close to 375,000 signatures.
