Proper police conduct detailed then scrutinized at former Bow Island RCMP officer’s trial

By Jeremy Appel on October 17, 2018.

NEWS FILE PHOTO
Medicine Hat's Court of Queen's bench is seen in this undated photo. Former RCMP officer Elliot Teed was sentenced Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019 to two months in jail for sexual assault and breach of trust charges stemming from a checkstop on Feb. 12, 2015.

jappel@medicinehatnews.com @MHNJeremyAppel

Two RCMP officers and an auxiliary testified Tuesday at the trial of a former Bow Island cop charged with a sexual assault that allegedly occurred more than two years ago.

Elliot Teed sat in silence at the Court of Queen’s Bench in Medicine Hat, where he faces one count of sexual assault and two counts of breach of trust stemming from a Feb. 12, 2015 checkstop on Highway 3.

During the traffic stop, Teed found cannabis in the complainant’s vehicle, giving her a 24-hour driving suspension as a result.

The complainant, who cannot be named due to a publication ban, testified Monday that Teed gave her a pat down twice, with the second time focusing on her breasts.

She also alleges that while she was waiting in her car, which was moved to the side of a nearby building, for her suspension to end, Teed pulled up to her vehicle and propositioned her.

Tuesday’s first witness was Jarom L.W. Leafloor, an RCMP peace officer in Airdrie who was the detachment commander in Bow Island at the time of the incident.

Leafloor said male officers are trained to be more careful when patting down female suspects.

If they feel the need to more aggressively pat down a woman, they must get a female officer to do so.

In 2015, Bow Island’s detachment didn’t have any female officers, so the suspect would have to had been taken to Redcliff or Taber.

Defence lawyer Robb Beeman made a distinction between police policies and practices during cross-examination of Leafloor.

The official policy of the RCMP, while cannabis was illegal, was to seize the substance and charge the person with possession.

However, as Leafloor admitted, police would often just dispose of the cannabis in front of the suspect if it was a smaller amount.

Beeman suggested the same is true of pat downs.

“You’re not bringing a female officer when you find a small quantity of marijuana,” he said.

Leafloor said male officers are trained to search under the bra line and between the breasts.

“Your practice may be to avoid that, but you’re trained to do that,” responded Beeman.

Leafloor testified that he couldn’t find a police reporting occurrences, or PROSE file with a copy of the driving suspension in it.

But Beeman provided a copy of a PROSE file for the incident, which had Leafloor’s human resources number on it.

“I don’t remember doing it,” Leafloor said, adding that he must have been asked to do it as part of the investigation into Teed.

“There’s no reason why I would’ve printed off this specific document in general.”

The second witness was Michael James Hill, the acting RCMP corporal in Eston, Sask., whom the complainant had reported the alleged assault to.

He was flagged down by her on the morning of Feb. 16 on Main Street in Eston.

“She looked really upset, nervous, stand-offish,” observed Hill.

He told her to come to the Kindersley detachment to provide an official statement.

She didn’t show up when she was supposed to provide the statement.

Hill ran into her later that week — on Feb. 20 — and urged her to come forward, which she did on Feb. 23.

In her statement to the RCMP, she said she was wearing a bra at the time of the alleged assault, but according to Kaile Sadler, the auxiliary who accompanied Teed the night of and filled out the suspension form, her nipples showed through her shirt, indicating she wasn’t wearing a bra.

In his testimony, Sadler was unable to recall much of what occurred on Feb. 12, 2015, however he remembers remarking to Teed about the complainant’s nipples.

“I remember him not touching her inappropriately,” Sadler testified.

After dropping the complainant off at her car, Sadler said he asked Teed, “Would you?” inquiring whether he’d have sex with her.

According to Sadler, Teed said, “No, because she seems like someone who would have a disease.”