CPS officer charged with unlawfully pointing gun because of ‘rude gesture’
Posted Oct 19, 2017 4:35 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Calgary police have charged one of their own after an officer drew a gun during a traffic stop, allegedly because of a rude gesture made by the driver.
Cst. Adam Massart, a six-year member of the force, faces a single count of unlawfully pointing a firearm, in connection to the incident from October 28th of last year.
“Fortunately it is rare occurrence,” Insp. Keith Cain of the Professional Standards Section said Thursday.
There have been 23 incidents of officers pointing their guns so far this year.
“We have very detailed training for the officers, when it is appropriate for them to draw their firearm.”
At 9 p.m. on October 28th, two ununiformed officers were driving an unmarked vehicle when one of them noticed a driver allegedly make a rude gesture directed at them.
The officers then made a traffic stop, in which one drew his gun, approached the driver-side window and pointed his firearm at the driver for several seconds.
The driver was arrested and issued a stunting ticket, but that was later withdrawn Cain said, adding a complaint was made shortly after the stop.
“It would be impossible for me to say, this is a situation where that would be appropriate or not, that is case-specific and incident specific,” he said.
Because the situation is before the courts, Cain wouldn’t comment on what the gesture was or if it was appropriate for the stop to be conducted due to the gesture, although he did discuss stunting broadly.
“There are a variety of things that can happen that can distract a driver that may under the definition of stunting,” he said.
As is procedure, Massart has been relieved of duty for several days, during which time his status, assignment and pay will be determined going forward.
Cain was also asked why it’s taken so long to get to this point.
“That’s a fair question,” he said. “Once we’re done our investigation, then it goes up to the Crown and then they have to assign someone, have them go through the process of looking at it and all of this unfortunately does take some time.”
