Kelowna Police Are Now Investigating The Officer That Dragged UBCO Nursing Student
The police have given their official response to a violent assault allegation. Kelowna RCMP told Narcity on Tuesday, June 23 that they've launched an internal investigation into an alleged assault that took place during a wellness check on January 20. The victim of the Kelowna assault, Mona Wang, is suing the RCMP.
According to the lawsuit that's been filed against RCMP officer Lacey Browning, Wang claims that she suffered injuries on her face, upper thigh, right breast, sternum, and forearms at the hands of the officer.
The incident occurred during a wellness check.
Video provided to Narcity by Wang's lawyer, Michael Patterson, depicts Browning pulling Wang by her hair and shoulders and also kicking her in the head.
None of the claims have been proven in court at the time of writing.
The police have now issued their response to the series of videos that have been made public as a result of the lawsuit.
Sgt. Janelle Shoihet told Narcity in an email, "The RCMP respects the judicial process and we will file our official response as per the civil proceedings."
She said the police have reviewed the materials and allegations pertaining to the police officer's actions.
The statement goes on to read, "We can confirm that an internal Code of Conduct and criminal (statutory) investigation is underway."
She added, "The RCMP will also be asking an outside police department to independently review the findings of our criminal investigation once completed."
Shoihet then said that the officer in the video has been placed on administrative duty and that, "duty status is subject to continual assessment."
Numerous wellness checks have gone awry in recent situations, from Regis Korchinski-Paquet to Ejaz Ahmed Choudry.
According to Flair Media, wellness checks don't really have a standard definition.
Generally, they're thought to relate to calls about mental health distress, said Flair.
Many organizations in Canada, including some Black Lives Matter chapters, are advocating to stop letting police officers conduct wellness checks.
Even Jagmeet Singh has spoken out against the role of policing in mental wellness services.