GUELPH -- A Police Services Board hearing is underway for a Guelph police officer who pleaded guilty in criminal court for assaulting a teen.
The hearing will determine if Const. Corey McArthur will be reprimanded or dismissed from the police force.
A psychiatrist who treated McArthur was cross-examined on Tuesday morning, saying he was aware of symptoms of low mood and anger. That cross-examination continued into the afternoon.
At the centre of the hearing is an incident that happened in September of 2016, when the police officer elbowed a 17-year-old boy who was handcuffed to a bed at Guelph General Hospital.
The teen had been using crystal meth and was threatening to harm himself. McArthur elbowed the teen after the boy kneed him.
"McArthur had been spoken to before about excessive use of force on the job in 2007," David Migicovsky, the lawyer for the police service, said during the hearing. "In December of that year, it was indicated he was involved in a number of arrests where questions were raised by suspects for use of force during arrests."
Court documents showed McArther was charged with assault on another occasion in 2008, where he arrested an individual for public intoxication. The documents indicated he was found guilty at trial and received an absolute discharge in 2010.
In 2018, McArthur pleaded guilty to criminal assault charges in relation to the incident. He was sentenced to a conditional discharge, three years' probation and 240 hours of community service.
During the criminal trial, his lawyer said that his client suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the on-duty death of his colleague, Const. Jennifer Kovach, back in 2013 .
At Tuesday's hearing, McArthur say quietly next to his lawyer as the doctor was cross-examined on the details of his report.
The hearing was held in a banquet hall of a hotel with fewer than 20 seats available for the public.
The defence plans to call more witnesses and the hearing is expected to last for some time. Both the defence and prosecutor will present submissions before a final decision.
