Victoria officer testifies teen restrained in padded cell for own protection
May 8, 2008VICTORIA - A Victoria police officer is defending the decision to put an intoxicated 15-year-old girl in a padded cell and keep her leashed to the cell door for four hours with her hands and feet tied behind her back.
Const. Brian Asmussen testified Thursday at a civil trial that police took the action in May 2005 to protect Willow Kinloch from herself and for the protection of others, including officers.
Kinloch, who is now 18, is suing two Victoria police officers, two jailers and the City of Victoria for damages as a result of her confinement, which she says was cruel and unusual and breached her rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights.
"You think someone having their hands cuffed behind their back, their feet tied together and tethered to a jail door keeps them calm?" asked Kinloch's lawyer Richard Neary.
"Absolutely," said Asmussen.
Const. Ryan O'Neill and jailers Pierre Boudreau and Merle Edmunds, as well as the city, are named in the lawsuit being heard by a eight-person jury.
Asmussen testified Kinloch's arrest started out as one of the easier ones of his career, but her behaviour escalated to the point where Kinloch ended up in the padded cell in restraints.
The court is viewing police surveillance video from the cell.
The video shows Kinloch, who is about five feet tall and weighs about 100 pounds, pacing like a caged animal.
She is seen punching at the walls and jumping up at a tiny rectangular window. She also appears to be yelling, but the video did not record audio.
The video also shows Kinloch in an apparent altercation with jail matron Edmunds, where she kicks off one of her shoes and it strikes Edmunds on her left shin.
The video then shows Kinloch pinned up against the jail wall with what appears to be Edmunds holding her near her throat with both hands. Police are then seen entering the cell and putting Kinloch on the ground.
Officers place her in cuffs and leg restraints, and jailer Boudreau is seen bringing the tether leash into the cell. Kinloch does not appear to be struggling with police at that point.
Asmussen said the incident with the shoe escalated the situation to where it was necessary to place Kinloch in restraints.
"It's gone from banging and yelling in cell to assaulting staff," he said. "She was in handcuffs and leg restraints for her safety, as well as ours. We watched her behaviour escalate through the night. We have to stop it at some point."
Kinloch testified earlier this week that she was terrified and frantic after she was placed in the padded cell for the second time that night.
Police earlier tried to take her home, but when they arrived at Kinloch's apartment, the call box to the building was not working and they wouldn't allow Kinloch to yell up to the second-floor apartment from the street.
Police were not able to contact Kinloch's family by telephone and officers decided to take her back to the police station until they could.
Boudreau, who no longer works at the Victoria police jail, testified he remembers Kinloch as being intoxicated to the point where she could barely stand up.
"She was becoming agitated and verbally abusive in general," he said.
Kinloch was also not providing any information, said Boudreau.
Neary said the video evidence will allow the jury to decide whether or not Kinloch was behaving in a violent manner.
He said police did not offer her use of the telephone or a glass of water during the four hours she was in restraints.
Const. Brent Keleher said Kinloch was arrested after he answered a call to assist ambulance paramedics who were dealing with a report of a young woman wandering through downtown traffic.
"She was in no condition to be left alone," he said. "She was intoxicated. She was not coherent when she spoke. She was unsteady on her feet."
Keleher said he tried to locate Kinloch's parents but was not able to find their telephone number.
Victoria Police launched an internal investigation into the incident after the video was released by Kinloch's lawyer earlier this year and the acting police chief said the teen was kept in the cell for her own protection.
The B.C. Civil Liberties Association has also filed a complaint the to B.C. Complaints Commissioner.
