Manitoba police watchdog charges RCMP officer with assault

An RCMP officer from Thompson has been charged withassault causing bodily harm.

The charges stem from an incident on June 5, 2019,when officers were called about a man causing a disturbance at the Thompson Innin the northern Manitoba city.

A 50-year-old man was arrested, but in the process hesustained a cut tohis forehead that needed to be stitchedat the hospital, according to theIndependent Investigation Unit. The IIUannounced in July that it was lookinginto the incident.

In a release issued on Friday, IIU civilian director Zane Tesslersaid there arereasonable and probable grounds to believe a criminal offence occurred.

As a result, he authorizedcharges to be laid against Const.Jeremiah Dumont-Fontaine.

Dumont-Fontaineis scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 25in Thompson.

As the matter is now before the courts, the IIUsaid it would not make any further comments.