North Van RCMP officer testifes he did not strike suspect during arrest

A North Vancouver police officer on trial for allegedly assaulting a handcuffed man during an arrest told a judge he did not punch or strike the man.

RCMP Const. Hirday Olak, a Burnaby resident, testified in his own defence this week, telling Judge Joanne Challenger of the North Vancouver provincial court the assault alleged by prosecutors never happened.

Earlier in the trial, several other police officers described how the incident began shortly after midnight on Oct. 8, 2019, with a report of a suspect alleged to have been breaking into vehicles. One member of the public who confronted the suspect told police dispatchers he believed the suspect was carrying a knife.

Police spotted the suspect and chased him into a wooded area near Main Street and Brooksbank Avenue.

Olak described how he arrived on the scene of an arrest that night near Mountain Equipment Co-op and saw two other police officers struggling to put handcuffs on a suspect – later identified as Nicholas Hutton.

Olak said he placed his knee on the suspect’s back to get him to release his arms. At the time, he said he was concerned the suspect may have been trying to grab a knife that had been allegedly reported.

“It was my perception that Mr. Hutton was holding on to something and I feared it was a knife,” he said.

A subsequent search of the suspect by another police officer revealed he had been carrying a large machete, said Olak. When he saw the weapon, Olak said he knelt next to the suspect and swore at him, asking what he was doing with a knife like that.

“It’s a bit of a shocker to see a knife that size,” he said.

Olak’s defence lawyer asked if he had “punched,” “jabbed” or struck the suspect at any time while he was handcuffed.

“No,” Olak replied each time.

Olak said he learned about a week after the incident that he was under investigation for an excessive force complaint and placed on desk duty until January 2021 while an internal RCMP investigation was conducted.

He has since been permitted to return to regular duties, he said.

Olak, a 35-year-old Burnaby resident, has been a member of the RCMP since 2014.

In closing arguments, defence lawyer Michael Gismondi urged the judge to acquit Olak, pointing out that three other officers at the scene that night testified they didn’t see or hear Olak punch or strike the suspect.

When the suspect himself was interviewed in February 2020, he told a police officer “Mr. Olak did not do anything wrong,” said Gismondi. “There’s no reason to disbelieve his evidence.”

In contrast, there were inconsistencies in the testimony of two other police officers – Const. Cynthia Stevens and Const. Jonathan Poon – who said they saw Olak strike or “jab” at the suspect while he was handcuffed, said Gismondi. He added the two officers also discussed the incident afterwards, possibly contaminating their recollections.

Gismondi said the case presents numerous eyewitnesses with different accounts of the same event, adding if the judge can’t decide who to believe, she must acquit Olak.

Crown prosecutor Cory Lo said Olak’s testimony should be rejected.

Olak sought to minimize his actions that night, said Lo, adding when it came to the “knee strikes” on the suspect, “It took a couple of times for him to admit he dropped his weight from a standing position.”

Olak’s decision to “admonish” the suspect about the knife was also “bizarre behaviour,” said Lo.

Lo said Const. Stevens, who said she saw Olak strike Hutton, was “very sure of what she saw.”

It’s possible other officers at the scene just didn’t see Olak strike Hutton, he added. “They are small, quick little punches,” he said. “Nobody is saying Constable Olak wound up and gave him three major blows.”

Lo said that the other officers couldn’t all correctly recall who conducted the search of Hutton or who had made a comment to Olak shows they weren’t paying close attention at all times.

The punches were “very small, very subtle movements that could have been missed by other officers,” he said.

The judge has reserved her decision in the case until the end of July.