Sergeant Darcy Taylor

Update: Darcy Taylor's absolute discharge.

Sergeant Darcy Taylor. A Sergeant with 21 years on the force apologizes after going to court having been caught on video hitting an innocent bystander in the neck with his nightstick at full force and plowing him to the ground. He said he was full of adrenalin at the time.

Oh that excuses it. Kinda like the other police officers who assaulted and robbed the newspaper deliveryman in an unprovoked attack. They did that because they consumed more than a dozen drinks of alcohol that evening so that makes it all OK. They're not responsible for consuming that much alcohol or for their actions after they were drunk. One of those officers was a use of force trainer. Something is very wrong here.

It makes ya kinda wonder if the other officers who were not caught on film but beat the tar out of the wrong guy are lying about their side of the story. The miss use of force is one concern but the arrogance and the dishonesty is another.

Wachtel’s lawyer, Jason Tarnow, who obtained surveillance video of Taylor and sent it to the Police Complaints Commission and Crown counsel, said outside court he was “outraged” that no witnesses took the stand except Taylor.

“The sergeant was out-of-control, he just ran up to Justin and hit him as hard as he could on the throat with his baton,” said Tarnow, who said Wachtel, 27, is a marketing professional and a small, slight man.

“Justin is completely non-aggressive and now he has just lost all trust in police and the justice system. Dozens of witnesses would have testified the officer was cursing and striking out.

“The video clearly shows the officer’s behaviour. It was just brutal.”

The video obtained by Tarnow, part of which was shown in court, shows Taylor striking Wachtel, who falls backwards. Taylor then turns on another man, who picks up his bike to ward off the police officer.

Attacking the throat with a weapon is considered lethal force. It is only authorized when directly faced with a lethal attack. Not against and unarmed, unprovoked civilian. Someone needs to be retrained. This man dishonours the poppy not to mention the uniform.