A Guelph police officer who assaulted a teenager handcuffed to a hospital bed doesn’t have anger issues, a forensic psychiatrist testified on Tuesday – that goes for now and when the attack happened in 2016.
“One can respond angrily and not have an underlying anger problem,” Dr. Jonathan Rootenberg told a professional misconduct sentencing hearing held under the Police Services Act for Const. Corey McArthur.
His comment came after the hearing learned concerns about McArthur’s use of force were raised prior to an incident which is generally accepted as the beginning of his “full-blown” post-traumatic stress disorder – the 2013 death of his police colleague.
Earlier in Rootenberg’s testimony, Guelph Police Service lawyer Jessica Barrow pointed out McArthur’s behaviour was raised during at least two professional reviews, judicial findings from his divorce and in the rulings of two separate, criminal judges in cases that saw the officer testify.
The officer was also found guilty of criminal assault while making an arrest in 2008 – a finding he continues to disagree with.
Rootenberg acknowledge McArthur had "angry outbursts" prior to 2013.
The loss of his colleague, who was responding to McArthur’s call for assistance when she crashed her police vehicle and died, is what pushed the officer from possibly having some PTSD symptoms into a diagnosable case, Rootenberg said.
“There’s no doubt in my mind he has full-blown PTSD,” the doctor testified. “It’s clear to me he was very concerned about fellow officers’ safety.”
McArthur’s diagnosis itself is not in question, but rather the extent to which it factored into his actions on the day of the hospital attack.
It was McArthur’s heightened vigilance from PTSD that led him to assault the teenager, Rootenberg believes.
The officer was at Guelph General Hospital on an unrelated police matter when a female officer asked for his assistance with the youth. Video footage from the hospital shows McArthur helped handcuff the youth’s arms on both sides of the bed.
When the youth, who was in mental distress, began wiggling around, McArthur pinned him down with a hand to his upper chest or neck. An elbow strike followed after the youth complained he couldn’t breath and his leg or knee made contact with McArthur.
“There was no immediate danger to any of the officers,” Barrow stated, noting the youth’s movements could be related to his sensation of choking. “There’s no evidence anywhere that Const. McArthur was harmed in any way.”
Had McArthur viewed the youth as a threat, all he had to do was “just step back,” Barrow noted.
“He can’t move very much,” she said of the youth. “He’s quite subdued.”
In 2018, McArthur pleaded guilty to the criminal assault in the hospital incident, followed by a guilty plea to professional misconduct under the PSA resulting in the sentencing hearing currently underway.
It’s the second sentencing hearing for McArthur on this matter. He was previously ordered to quit or be fired but that was overturned on appeal and a new sentencing hearing ordered.
Tuesday was the final day of testimony for Rootenberg. It was his fourth day on the stand during the latest sentencing process.
He also testified for the defence in the first sentencing hearing.
The hearing is set to continue on Monday, to be held virtually, during which the defence is expected to call character witnesses on McArthur’s behalf.
