Judge dismisses charge for N.L. officer accused of assaulting volatile air passenger

A Newfoundland and Labrador judge has dismissed an assault charge against an RCMP officer accused of using excessive force against a man whose volatile behaviour grounded an international flight last year.

The Crown’s case against RCMP Const. Jeffrey Cormier relied heavily on a video posted to social media in June 2023 appearing to show three officers escort a man off a plane with his hands restrained.

The video shows the man’s head hitting a police SUV before he is pushed into the vehicle.

Judge Rolf Pritchard said today there are moments in the video where it’s difficult to see what’s happening and that it may be in those moments that the man tried to kick or head butt Cormier, as the officer had testified.

Pritchard says he therefore cannot conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Cormier had used excessive force.

The court heard that the man aboard the Delta flight from Paris to Detroit was drunk and abusive, and that it took six people on the aircraft to hold him down before an emergency landing in Stephenville, N.L., on June 2, 2023.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 23, 2024.