Constables Paul Fyke and Jeffrey Smith of the Belleville Police Service have been found not guilty of assault causing bodily harm in the arrest of Mario Baptiste Jr. inside a Taco Bell in 2019.
Constable Smith, however, was found guilty of a lesser charge of assault.
In November of 2019, an arrest was made following an off-duty investigation by Constable Fyke into a stolen drink from the former Lowe’s location on Millennium Parkway, now a RONA+.
This led to the arrest of Mario Baptiste Jr. inside a Taco Bell located on North Front Street.
Baptiste Jr. passed out during the arrest. When he arrived in hospital, Baptiste Jr. was found to have suffered a broken rib and a broken right finger.
Constables Fyke and Jeffrey Smith were each charged with assault causing bodily harm.
Constable Kyle Dodds had also faced a similar charge but Crown Prosecutor Ian Bulmer withdrew the charge before the trial began.
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit did not begin an investigation until 13 months after the incident occurred.
Justice Patrick Hurley gave his verdict at the Quinte Courthouse on Wednesday.
In a nearly two-hour long session, Hurley gave an overview of the facts of the trial and outlined evidence submitted.
When delivering his conclusion, Hurley said that Constable Smith did not have reasonable grounds to initiate the arrest of Baptiste Jr.
Hurley said, however, that the crown was not able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that his injuries came from the arrest.
When it came to Constable Fyke, Justice Hurley said Fyke had subjective grounds to continue the investigation into the stolen drink and found Fyke’s testimony at Lowe’s to be credible.
However, Hurley said he believed that Fyke did not have objective grounds to believe that Baptiste Jr. was a party to the stolen drink.
Despite this, Hurley said that Fyke was lawful in joining the arrest of Baptiste Jr. stating that he had grounds to believe that Baptiste Jr. was either resisting arrest or assaulting a peace officer based on the Criminal Code.
Hurley also said that he had concerns about Baptiste Jr.’s recount of the arrest, saying that he felt there were “deliberate embellishments” on the events of the arrest.
Baptiste Jr. spoke briefly with media outside of the courthouse.
“Local politics … it’s a wash,” Baptiste Jr. told media while heading out of the courthouse. “I don’t know what else to say.”
Neither crown nor defence lawyers would speak to media after the verdict citing the case still being active.
Belleville police says they will not provide a statement on the verdict at this time as the decision is subject to an appeal period of 30 days.
A civil lawsuit totalling $550,000 has also been filed by Baptiste Jr. surrounding the incident. He is suing the Belleville Police Service, former Chief of Police Ron Gignac, and Constables Paul Fyke, Jeffrey Smith, Kyle Dodds and Jill McAuley.
