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Maple Ridge Mountie doesn't want a criminal record

Lawyer requests discharge during sentencing hearing for Maple Ridge Const. Mike Cardinal who pleaded guilty to common assault


A Maple Ridge Mountie who pleaded guilty to assaulting a man during an arrest does not want to be saddled with a criminal record.

G. Jack Harris, who is defending RCMP Const. Mike Cardinal, requested a discharge for his client during a sentencing hearing Wednesday in Port Coquitlam Provincial Court.

“You are not going to punish a bad cop today, but someone who made mistake,” said Harris.

Originally charged with assault causing bodily harm, Cardinal pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of common assault, and admitted to punching Mark Jones in the face while trying to arrest him on Feb. 21, 2008.

The court heard that Ridge Meadows RCMP were investigating a complaint about a noisy party on 228th Street at Abernethy Way that night. By the time police arrived, the group had scattered.

As a result, said Crown prosecutor Wayne Norris, the first officer on scene approached five people he saw standing in the front yard of a house on the street, thinking they had been at the party.

Jones, who lived at the property, told the officer he was at the wrong address and that the party in question had been across the street. He refused to comply with the officer’s request to sit on a retaining wall so he could be questioned.

While Jones argued with the officer, a young woman, who was hosting the party across the street, walked over to inform police that her guests were the source of the noise complaint.

Police, however, ignored the woman and continued to focus on Jones, eventually arresting him for causing a disturbance.

When Jones refused to get into a police car, the officer called for backup, drawing three more Mounties to the scene, including Const. Cardinal.

Norris told the court that Cardinal and other officers were advised that Jones was “arrestable.”

Jones, meanwhile, had crossed his arms and tucked his hands into his armpit. Jones, 5-10 and 250 pounds at the time, refused to uncross his arms when police tried to handcuff him.

Norris said the officers proceeded to use force to get Jones to comply.

One officer punched Jones in the rib, while Cardinal punched him in the face while holding a flashlight. One of the punches was so hard that the flashlight flew out of Cardinal’s hand and hit a bystander.

Jones was eventually tackled to the ground, where he was kneed in the face by another officer, a blow that crushed a bone under his left eye.

Jones lost 25 per cent of the vision in his left eye following the assault, and has launched a civil suit against the RCMP and all the officers involved. A friend of Jones recorded a blurry video of the assault on his cell phone and posted it to YouTube.

Cardinal was the only officer to face a criminal charge in connection with the assault.

A report from a use-of-force expert found the punches delivered by Cardinal were “borderline excessive” and the use of the flashlight as “excessive”.

Cardinal, who had been a Mountie for three years in 2008, was the most senior officer on scene.

“This is not a forum to dissect these events,” Norris said at the sentencing hearing.

“The police investigation was very poorly conducted ... the result was Const. Cardinal was charged with assault causing bodily harm.”

After Crown reviewed the file, a prosecutor soon determined there was no likelihood of conviction on a charge of assault causing bodily harm.

Cardinal entered a guilty plea last November to the lesser charge of assault.

Norris asked the judge for a $500 fine, which would leave Cardinal with a criminal conviction.

Cardinal’s lawyer Harris submitted a pile of letters attesting to his client’s remorse and good character, written by colleagues, family and neighbours.

Pacing across the court room, Harris pointed from one end of the wall to the other to demonstrate the length of Cardinal’s career. He noted a pen point illustrated the two-minute-long episode in Cardinal’s otherwise unblemished years of service.

The whole process had taken four years, said Harris.

“It had a long shelf life and had a tremendous effect on my client.”

Harris added Cardinal met the criteria for a discharge, either one with conditions or absolute.

“It’s an opportunity for a young constable to learn from his mistake.”

Cardinal, 34 and who remains on active duty, told the judge he had made a mistake and has since received additional training to know what kind of force is appropriate to use during an arrest.

“It’s been a stressful four years of my life,” said Cardinal.

“For the future, I definitely learned a lesson.”

Provincial court judge Patricia Janzen is scheduled to sentence Cardinal on May 14.