A statement of claim seeking monetary damages has been issued against Stratford Police Services board, four constables and a sergeant with Stratford Police Services.
Kyle Nicholson, 36, the plaintiff, claims police officers used excessive force on Feb. 1, 2023, when he was arrested for intoxication at the city’s transit terminal.
The Stratford resident is seeking damages in the range of $3 million.
David Shellnutt, legal counsel for Nicholson, told MyStratfordNow that his client suffered physically and mentally that night, and his struggles have continued.
“Our allegations are mainly damages related to the incident. Broken nose, broken teeth, head injury, concussion symptoms, psychological symptoms. Those are all things we will proceed through the civil process to demonstrate via medical records and expert testimony.”
According to an arrest report obtained by MyStratfordNow, one of the police officers, Const. Cody Millian, managed to get Nicholson handcuffed after encountering resistance that night.
Nicholson then turned away from police and pulled his body towards the back of a police cruiser.
The arrest report stated that Const. Millian then “delivered a leg sweep”, to put him in a prone position on the ground.
Nicholson landed in a prone position, “striking his face on the asphalt.”
Blood was observed coming from Nicholson’s mouth and nose and a tooth was found on the ground. He was taken to hospital, restrained in a bed, and was belligerent and argumentative with hospital staff, according to the arrest report.
He was served with a provincial offences notice for public intoxication.
The statement of claim said Nicholson is suffering from PTSD, depression, anxiety and flashbacks. Nicholson said the force was excessive, unreasonable and applied with the intent to injure.
Const. Millian was charged last August with assault causing bodily harm by the province’s Special Investigations Unit, in relation to the same incident, but Shellnut said that charge was dropped.
Shellnut said he has been in touch with legal counsel for Stratford Police Service and “we are hoping to move the matter forward.”
“His alleged crime is being drunk in public…our allegations are the impacts of it…this isn’t a human trafficker. It’s a guy who had too much to drink and probably has some substance abuse issues.”
Shellnut said there needs to be a different approach.
“The way we handle folks dealing with this stuff, you have to have a different frame of mind…but so often police employ the same tactics because that is what they know, they are not trained for this stuff and that is why we need some major changes.”
Utilizing mental health crisis workers would have worked in this scenario, he suggested.
The city’s police force has used a mobile crisis response team for several years now, utilizing the expertise of mental health professionals, helping to de-escalate difficult situations.
The number of mental health-related incidents that police respond to have jumped in Stratford and other communities, especially since the pandemic.
“Establishing a rapport, de-escalating, (using) people with skills and training to handle this stuff is going to have a lot more positive result for our community than folks who are just trained in sort of one mode of policing,” the lawyer said.
“This kind of thing, it costs the taxpayer. It costs our communities... it can be avoided.”
MyStratfordNow reached out for comment to Stratford Police Services and Stratford Police Services Board but has not received a reply at the time of publication.
