A former Saskatoon police officer told court he was following his training during the takedown of a driver who stole a vehicle and led officers on a high speed chase in December 2016.
Jarett Gelowitz, 32, was charged with assault after the incident by the Saskatoon Police Service’s professional standards section.
When questioned by the defence, Gelowitz told court that as the senior officer on scene he took it upon himself to initiate hands-on contact with the suspect, Keller Bear, who was 18 at the time.
He says he believed Bear was resisting arrest, and that a series of punches, knee strikes and kicks seen in a police dashcam video is consistent with use of force training he received as an officer.
The video shows several officers yelling for the two people in the stolen car to get their hands up before using their batons to smash windows and wrestle the driver out of the car.
Six other officers involved in the chase have also testified Bear was being uncooperative. Bear, who served two years for the chase, told court he was not resisting arrest.
Gelowitz was fired in August of last year following two additional, unrelated assault charges. One charge has been dropped while the other is being treated as a separate matter.
In her cross-examination, Crown lawyer Jennifer Schmid questioned Gelowitz about his decisions when he arrived on scene where the stolen car had stopped. She suggested the final knee strike was not necessary as Bear was close to being under control before the strike.
Gelowitz replied that in such an intense situation the suspect isn’t truly under control until they are in handcuffs and in the back of a police vehicle.
The defence plans on calling one more witness Thursday to review the dashcam video.
Final arguments are expected Friday.
