LANGLEY ADVANCE TIMES – Crown prosecutors say a former Langley Mountie should serve three months behind bars for assault, while his defence lawyers argued for a suspended sentence with no jail time.
Former staff sergeant Damian Volk was in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster on Friday, June 12 for a sentencing hearing on a single charge of assault.
The assault took place in the summer of 2020 when a man named Dalibor Kuzmanovic, who has since died, was being booked into the holding cells at the Langley RCMP detachment headquarters on suspicion of robbery.
Volk, a senior officer and acting as watch commander at the time, took over the search.
When Volk when to search the front of Kuzmanovic’s shorts, he and Volk exchanged some words. Some witnesses described Kuzmanovic as “mouthy” or swearing. Video surveillance showed he shrugged.
Volk then suddenly took Kuzmanovic, who was handcuffed at the time, down to the floor.
Justice John Gibb-Carsley found that Volk was not in any objective danger and should not have resorted to violence.
Crown prosecutor Cory Lo emphasized that point on Friday as he argued that Volk should serve up to three months behind bars.
“No violence was warranted, whatsoever,” Lo said.
He argued that peace officers need to be held to a higher standard.
“When a jail guard or police officer commits an offence, it represents a breach of trust,” Lo argued.
They have powers and authority, and in exchange must respect the rights and dignity of those in their care, he said.
And this case, unlike some others where officers have been convicted of assault, did not take place after a fight with a suspect or a difficult arrest, Lo argued.
“This was a calm situation, where Mr. Kuzmanovic was in a controlled environment,” and with other officers nearby and able to assist, Lo said.
Volk’s defence lawyer, Danielle Ching McNamee, said her client should not be imprisoned, calling for a conditional discharge.
She suggested Volk should serve a lengthy probation period, of between 18 to 24 months, and do 50 hours of community service.
“A custodial [prison] sentence under these circumstances would tend to border on vengeance,” Ching McNamee said.
She argued that Volk’s actions on the night of the assault were due in part to frustration. There had been incidents at the Langley RCMP detachment cells of inadequate searches by junior officers, which led to a policy in which senior officers had to oversee them.
“An inept search was being done, a search that was sub-par,” said Ching McNamee.
She argued that the assault took place in the heat of the moment, and was in part linked to Volk’s diagnosis of PTSD, one symptom of which is hyper-vigilance.
She also emphasized that there was no evidence that Kuzmanovic suffered any injuries due to the sudden takedown.
Lo anticipated the defence’s sentencing proposal during his own statements to the judge.
“A discharge would send the wrong message to the public at large, and particularly to junior officers,” Lo argued.
Gibb-Carsley questioned both lawyers during their arguments, including asking Lo whether he would be asking for a jail sentence if a similar incident – a simple assault with no evidence of injury – had taken place between two people on the street.
Lo conceded that under those circumstances, he wouldn’t have asked for jail time.
“It’s not so much the act that’s important here,” said Lo. “It’s the breach of trust and the abuse of authority.”
The defence argued that the primary sentencing issue was the assault.
“It’s absolutely not about the breach of trust,” said Ching McNamee.
Both sides raised the issue of Volk’s other assault conviction. In the early morning hours of July 1, 2020, a relatively junior officer brought a man back to the Langley detachment after arresting him for public intoxication. Volk and other officers were there, and essentially took over the process of searching and booking the suspect.
Volk took the suspect to the cells at a fast walk, took him to the ground, and stripped him down to his underwear as part of a search. On his way out of the cell, he delivered a backward kick to the suspect’s head. Volk was convicted with his sentencing scheduled for July 10 of this year.
The Kuzmanovic incident was Aug. 17, 2020. Volk was charged with both counts on the same day, but the trials took place separately.
The lawyers both noted that as the Kuzmanovic incident conviction took place first, Volk is considered a first offender with no criminal record for the purpose of sentencing. However, Lo noted that it means this wasn’t a one-off incident.
Because Kuzmanovic died several years after the assault, there was no victim impact statement from him.
Gibb-Carsley is expected to deliver his sentence later this year.
Volk resigned from the RCMP after his convictions.
– Matthew Claxton is a reporter with the Langley Advance Times
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