Supreme Court dismisses appeal of former Calgary cop who assaulted handcuffed man

A former Calgary police officer who assaulted a handcuffed man arrived at the end of his legal road eight years after he caused a skull fracture and brain injury in his victim. 

Trevor Lindsay appealed his conviction for aggravated assault, but on Thursday the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the application after hearing arguments. 

Lindsay assaulted Daniel Haworth in 2015 by throwing the handcuffed man on the ground, head first. 

Haworth died from a drug overdose months later. His brother testified at trial that Haworth was never the same after his brain injury. 

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Two years after his trial, Lindsay was handed a 90-day jail sentence, which he ultimately served.

He appealed the conviction to the Alberta Court of Appeal and lost, but because one of the three judges dissented, Lindsay had a path to take his case to the country's top court.

Defence lawyer Alias Saunders argued the initial trial judge erred in finding Lindsay's use of force excessive and dismissing the argument of self-defence. 

"This unfortunate incident took two seconds to forever alter two lives," wrote Saunders in her 33-page factum.

"The appellant police officer was convicted without consideration for whether the offence was proven. His defence was dismissed based on wrong application of law."

As is standard practice for the SCC, a panel of five judges dismissed the case from the bench. 

Lindsay quit CPS

Haworth wasn't Lindsay's only victim. 

Two years before the Haworth assault, Lindsay was caught on video beating another handcuffed man. 

Godfred Addai-Nyamekye was dumped by Lindsay's coworkers in a sparsely populated area of Calgary on a frigid December night in 2013. 

When Lindsay arrived on scene, police helicopter video shows the officer dragging, punching and kneeing the victim. 

Although Lindsay was never charged with assaulting Addai-Nyamekye, the trial judge found that's exactly what had taken place. 

In 2020, while facing two disciplinary hearings connected to the on-duty assaults on the two handcuffed men, Lindsay quit CPS, which meant he did not have to go through the internal process.