Deputy Chief Dean Rae. Photo by Manfred Joehnck
A 43-year-old Regina Police Service constable will keep his job even though Saskatchewan’s Court of Appeal has upheld his conviction for assaulting an aboriginal man in front of a Regina detox centre in May of 2012.
The victim, Eddy Stonechild, was intoxicated at the time. Cst. Robert Power kicked Stonechild in the stomach as he walked towards him. Stonechild is described as a frail, chronic alcoholic with vision and cognitive problems.
The kick knocked him to the ground and he hit his head on a concrete wall, requiring some medical attention.
Cst. Power maintained he was defending himself from an attack. The court disagreed. He was convicted of assault and given a one-year conditional sentence that included probation. He was also fired from Regina Police Service (RPS).
Power appealed both his conviction and his dismissal. A court of Queen’s Bench judge overturned the conviction, and a hearing by the Saskatchewan Police Commission overturned his dismissal saying he should get his job back whether or not the assault conviction stood.
This week, the Court of Appeal issued its ruling. It found the conviction should stand.
On Wednesday, RPS’s deputy police chief announced their next move.
Deputy Chief Dean Rae says Cst. Power will keep his job. He says there is no need for additional punishment. The deputy chief says Power has already lost more than a year’s pay.
He says RPS’s officers are expected to conduct themselves at a high public standard and that has not changed.
“I would expect all members of the Regina Police Service to continue on in a professional manner and to deal with the public in that way,” he says. “As police officers, when we are sworn in there is an expectation of us and we are expected to live up to those higher standards and I think all police officers know that.”
Power first joined the RPS in 2007. He is currently working in patrol and in the community services division. Rae says by all accounts he is doing an excellent job.