Case information

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Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

Charter of Rights - Right to life, liberty and security of person - Fundamental justice - Charter remedies - Police abuse - Sentence appeals - Standard of review - Whether a reduction of sentence is an available remedy pursuant to s. 24(1) of the Charter for police abuse during arrest and detention - If so, whether such a remedy has limitations or can result in a demonstrably unfit sentence - Standard of review of a finding that police force was excessive or unnecessary - Standard of review on appeal of a sentence reduction as a remedy for a breach of the Charter - Whether a sentence may be reduced below a statutory minimum - Whether Court of Appeal erred in substituting a conviction and a mandatory minimum fine for a conditional discharge - Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, ss. 7, 11(d), 12, 24(1).

The Respondent was driving while impaired and led police on a high speed car chase. He stopped his vehicle but did not comply with an order to exit his vehicle. While forcibly removing the Respondent from his car and wrestling him to the ground, an officer punched him in the head three times. Once he was face down on the ground, another officer punched him twice in the ribs while handcuffing him. The Respondent was arrested and detained overnight. The arresting officers did not report or disclose that force had been used. Medical treatment was not provided. After release, the Respondent attended a hospital and received emergency medical treatment for broken ribs and a punctured lung.

The Respondent pleaded guilty to impaired driving and flight from police. He changed counsel and brought a motion to stay proceedings based on breaches of ss. 7, 11(d) and 12 of the Charter. The sentencing judge held that the force applied after the first two punches was excessive and breached ss. 7 and 11(d) of the Charter. He held that an appropriate remedy under s. 24(1) of the Charter was to reduce the Respondent’s sentence from what otherwise would have been fit sentences. He discharged the Respondent on both counts, conditional on two concurrent 12-month periods of probation. The Court of Appeal concluded that the sentencing judge’s finding that the Respondent’s s. 7 Charter rights were breached was based not only on the excessive force, but also on the subsequent conduct of the police, that a sentence reduction is an available remedy under s. 24(1), and that sentence reductions are appropriate in this case. It held, however, that a court may not grant a constitutional exemption from a statutory minimum sentence. It upheld the conditional discharge on the count of flight from police. It substituted a conviction and a minimum $600 fine on the impaired driving count.