Max Bird says he used to go out of his way to help people.
Now, he mostly minds his own business after what he describes as a beating at the hands of Edmonton Police Service officers he encountered at the scene of a car accident.
Bird, a 56-year-old oilfield worker originally from Montreal Lake Cree Nation in Saskatchewan, says he was walking to a bus stop near 66 Street when he saw two cars in the ditch on the freeway. Bird previously took a first responder training course through his nation and stopped to see if he could help.
“I saw there was no emergency vehicles, there was no ambulance, there was no police. Nobody was stopping. I ran over, I climbed the fence, I ran to the car,” he said. “I just gave it a quick scan to see if anyone was inside or in the ditch or surrounding area and there wasn’t.”
He then noticed a police car near the other disabled vehicle on the other side of the freeway. Bird waved to the officer, who got in his vehicle and drove across the overpass.
“They asked me what I was doing. I said ‘first responder’ and I thought that would be the end of that. But no. They instructed me over the fence, which I did, my hands were up.”
Both officers had weapons drawn, Bird said. Once he was over the fence, “they just commenced Tasing me.”
“I rolled down the embankment, and when they stopped Tasing me they started beating me up physically,” he said. “Punching me and kneeing me and everything. I was like, ‘Holy crap, this was the worst case scenario.’ That’s what was going through my head. I thought I was helping. I’ve (stopped at accidents) before and never had a problem.”
A third officer eventually arrived and jumped on Bird’s back, he said. The blows stopped when an ambulance appeared on scene. Bird was taken to hospital, where he was treated for a dislocated bone in his forearm, which Mathew Farrell, Bird’s lawyer, said happened when an officer twisted his left arm behind his back. Bird says he was handcuffed to a bed while receiving treatment.
Bird said the experience stunned him.
“I can’t even begin to describe how rotten they were,” he said of the officers. “No sense of decency, they didn’t even apologize. They stuck by their story that I was up to no good to the very end. Even after I explained everything to them, they still wouldn’t listen to me. They tried to say I was sneaky, they tried to say I was drunk, they tried to say I was doing drugs.”
A charge of obstruction against Bird was later dropped. But he no longer feels safe intervening when police might be involved.
“I just know I’m tired of this crap,” he said. “I’m just tired of being discriminated against.”
‘Fairly clear cut’
Edmonton police announced Friday that two officers had been criminally charged in the incident — Const. David Castillo and Const. Ali Hamzeh. Both are facing counts of assault causing bodily harm. Castillo is a 10-year officer while Hamzeh has been on the job for three years.
The investigation by the EPS professional standards branch began when Bird filed a complaint a few days after the incident. EPS forwarded the case to Crown prosecutors in Calgary in April, who recommended last month that both officers be charged.
Among the evidence considered was video of Bird’s arrest from the EPS helicopter Air 1. Farrell said Tuesday that he has viewed the video but cannot share it because it was obtained through evidence disclosure (he initially believed it was released under the Freedom of Information Act).
“Based on Mr. Bird’s allegations, this is a fairly clear cut instance of the police acting inappropriately,” Farrell said.
While Bird is relieved someone has been charged, he is frustrated the officer who jumped on his back avoided prosecution.
He intends to file a complaint with the Alberta Human Rights Commission, which can award damages if it finds an organization breached the Human Rights Act.
Castillo and Hamzeh remain on the job but are employed in non-patrol and non-supervisory positions, Edmonton police said.