A Calgary police officer has been handed assault charges after allegedly striking a female taxi passenger a year ago during an on-duty incident.
A six-year member has been charged with common assault in relation to the incident where a taxi driver asked for his assistance with a domestic situation between a woman and another person in the back of a taxi.
Calgary police deputy chief Al Redford confirmed the incident occurred at 2:30 a.m. downtown on Jan. 23, 2009, but said due to a backlog at the Crown’s office, the charges were laid Thursday. “(The officer) was in fact fuelling up his own vehicle when the taxi driver approached him for help,” Redford said, adding at some point during the incident the woman was struck.
While police offered limited details because the matter is before the courts, the officer remains on administrative duties and his name will not be released.
The charges come just a week after unrelated charges against three other Calgary police officers in two separate incidents.
