Hearing begins for RNC officer accused of misconduct during 2017 arrest
The conduct of Const. Steven Simmons, an officer with the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, in a 2017 incident is the focus of a hearing that began in St. John's on Monday. (Chelsea Jacobs/CBC)A police officer with the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary listened to testimony Monday afternoon from a man whom he arrested nearly six years ago in a chaotic scene that ended with one person pepper-sprayed, a smashed patio door, and two men in handcuffs. Const. Steven Simmons has pleaded not guilty to using unnecessary force, being discourteous, and arresting Dennis and Zackary Ball without cause, all of which are in contravention of the RNC Act. The RNC Public Complaints Commission hearing is being overseen by adjudicator John Whelan, with lawyers representing the commission, which can investigate, hear and decide complaints from the public. Jerome Kennedy is representing Simmons, and Wendy Zdebiak is representing Chief Patrick Roche, who has been granted standing. The complaint stemmed from a
A police officer with the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary listened to testimony Monday afternoon from a man whom he arrested nearly six years ago in a chaotic scene that ended with one person pepper-sprayed, a smashed patio door, and two men in handcuffs.
Const. Steven Simmons has pleaded not guilty to using unnecessary force, being discourteous, and arresting Dennis and Zackary Ball without cause, all of which are in contravention of the RNC Act.
The RNC Public Complaints Commission hearing is being overseen by adjudicator John Whelan, with lawyers representing the commission, which can investigate, hear and decide complaints from the public. Jerome Kennedy is representing Simmons, and Wendy Zdebiak is representing Chief Patrick Roche, who has been granted standing.
The complaint stemmed from a Nov. 8, 2017, incident, when Simmons followed Dennis Ball home and accused him of dangerously driving through an accident scene at nearby Topsail Road and McNamara Drive.
Dashcam video provided to CBC News and shown at the hearing Monday shows Ball's vehicle approaching the accident scene, then making a U-turn around it and increasing his speed while driving away. There is no audio, but Ball testified he yelled out his window to Simmons to "direct the f--king traffic before there's another accident."
Simmons followed Ball down Topsail Road to his home, a short distance away. Video viewed Monday shows Simmons jump out of his vehicle as Ball is turning around in his driveway. As Ball proceeds forward in his turn, Simmons jumps back in his vehicle and backs away.
"Did it occur to you it looked like you were coming toward [Simmons]?" said Kennedy, counsel for Simmons.
Ball said he was only parking his vehicle. Simmons, he said, escalated the situation by immediately shouting for him to "get out of the effing car" and "get on the effing ground."
"I figured he wanted to attack me," Ball said. "He was out of control with his voice. I was afraid."
Video showed that Zackary Ball ran to his father's defence, which resulted in Simmons pepper-spraying him in the face.
Another officer who attended the scene smashed the glass in the patio door while Zackary Ball was inside, and a third officer was seen on video hitting a handcuffed Zackary Ball while walking him to the police car.
The father and son were originally criminally charged but the case was dropped after the Crown was shown the video surveillance of the officers' conduct.
Kennedy zeroed in on Ball's own conduct in the accident scene, suggesting Ball ought to have known the RNC was at his house because of a "possible traffic violation" for crossing lanes of traffic to make a U-turn.
"It should have been a ticket, nothing else," Ball said.
Ontario Provincial Police investigated matter in 2018
This week's hearing is not the first probe into the matter.
The Department of Justice and Public Safety called in the Ontario Provincial Police in 2018 to investigate the incident because the province did not have a serious-incident response team of its own at that time.
Local lawyer Gus Bruce provided oversight and wrote a report into the actions of the officers involved in the arrests, including Simmons.
Bruce determined the arrests of Dennis and Zackary Ball were unlawful, that pepper-spraying and hitting Zackary Ball was not justified, and that there were no reasonable grounds for the officer to break a window in the home.
The province's director of public prosecutions, however, declined to lay charges.
Two of the other police officers involved went before a similar disciplinary hearing in 2021.
Const. Bernard Morgan was found guilty of using unnecessary force, while Const. Isabel Wagner was cleared.
Both Wagner and Morgan are expected to testify at the hearing for Simmons. However, it was noted that Morgan, who was also criminally convicted of brandishing a Taser at colleagues, is no longer a member of the RNC.
Watch this CBC Investigates story from 2017, which profiled the Ball family's encounter with police:
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