Assaulting a Peace Officer Lawyers in Toronto
Assaulting a peace officer is a charge classified under “Offences Against the Person and Reputation” in the Criminal Code. This offence has the same elements and maximum punishments as a conviction for common assault, but it specifies that the victim be a peace officer.
In order to be convicted, the Crown must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you committed an assault by:
- Intentionally applying force to a person without their consent, or
- Attempting or threatening to apply force with an act or gesture causing the person to believe that you’re going to assault them, or
- Accosting or impeding another person while openly wearing a real or imitation weapon.
Once that is proven, the Crown must also prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you:
- Committed the assault against a peace officer, public officer, or someone helping them while they are engaged in a lawful duty, or
- Committed the assault with intent to resist or prevent your or someone else’s lawful arrest or detention, or
- Committed the assault against a person who is lawfully seizing land or goods, or
- Committed the assault with intent to rescue something taken lawfully from you by law enforcement.
Other offences that involve interfering with an officer in the lawful execution of their duties are Obstructing a Peace Officer and Resisting Arrest.
The relevant provision for assaulting a peace officer in the Canadian Criminal Code is:
Assaulting a peace officer
270 (1) Every one commits an offence who
(a) assaults a public officer or peace officer engaged in the execution of his duty or a person acting in aid of such an officer;
(b) assaults a person with intent to resist or prevent the lawful arrest or detention of himself or another person; or
(c) assaults a person
(i) who is engaged in the lawful execution of a process against lands or goods or in making a lawful distress or seizure, or
(ii) with intent to rescue anything taken under lawful process, distress or seizure.
In the Code, peace officers and public officers are widely defined, and include:
- Toronto police officers
- RCMP
- Canadian Forces officers
- Customs officers
- Mayors
- Pilots
- Bailiffs
- Wardens, and more.
The word “duty” is equally wide in the case law, but must be a lawful duty, and typically involves an active investigation. For example, it would not be lawful if an officer had no warrant to enter a property.
Similar to common assault, assaulting a peace officer also has provisions for assaulting a peace officer with a weapon or causing bodily harm, as well as aggravated assault of a peace officer.
Investigation of Assaulting a Peace Officer Charges in Toronto
An investigation of an assaulting a peace officer allegation in Toronto is typically initiated by the peace officer who was allegedly assaulted. Because peace officers and public officers are often vested with powers authorizing arrest, a charge can flow directly from the alleged assault and may rely solely on the statement of the officer.
Because assaulting a peace officer is a violent offence and it also relates to impeding law enforcement, the police typically take such matters seriously and will investigate the incident fully. This may include interviewing all witnesses, reviewing any video surveillance, seizing any evidence involved, photographing the scene, and obtaining medical records, if relevant.
After the police have gathered their evidence, they will arrest you if they believe you are the perpetrator. If you are not present at the scene, police will track you down or issue a warrant for your arrest.
After you have been charged, police will provide a package with all the evidence they collected, known as the “disclosure package,” to the Crown Prosecutor. You will have the right to access this disclosure package to see the evidence against you. Once you retain one of our lawyers, we will assist you in obtaining the disclosure package, and we will review it with you to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the Crown’s case, as well as any legal defences that may be available to you.
Bail Process and Conditions for Assaulting a Peace Officer Charges in Toronto
When charged with assaulting a peace officer, you may be released at the scene with paperwork to attend court and get fingerprinting done. If the charges against you are more serious, or you have a criminal record, you may be kept in custody and require a formal bail hearing to secure your release.
In order to conduct a bail hearing, you will be taken to the Toronto Police Service Division that is responsible for the alleged crime. The bail hearing must be held within 24 hours, a period that starts from the moment of arrest or detention rather than the time when you are brought into the Division.
The phone number for each division is 416-808-[Division Number – 00], so for example, the number for 52 Division is 416-808-5200. The addresses for each Division of the Toronto Police Service can be found here.
Penalties for Assaulting a Peace Officer Charges in Toronto
If you are convicted of assaulting a peace officer, you can expect to face significant penalties. It is a hybrid offence, which means that the Crown can elect to proceed by way of indictment (more serious) or by summary offence (less serious). This decision will be made based on the circumstances of your offence.
The Criminal Code of Canada outlines the maximum punishment for assaulting a peace officer:
- Indictable offence: Up to 5 years’ imprisonment,
- Summary offence: Up to 2 years’ less a day imprisonment.
Some aggravating factors that can increase the likelihood of jailtime are:
- The offence was committed while out on bail;
- The offence was committed for the benefit of, in association with, or at the direction of a criminal organization; or
- You are not a resident of Canada.
In addition to the immediate penalties resulting from a conviction for assaulting a peace officer, it can also have negative impacts on your future. You may have trouble securing employment in the field of your choice. This is especially the case for roles that require interacting with children, the elderly, or other vulnerable sectors of society. The lifelong criminal record that results from a conviction can also hinder immigration and travel, and can cause child custody issues.
Therefore, even if you intend on accepting responsibility for this type of offence, it is worthwhile to explore your options and consider all the possible penalties. Often, good representation can result in no criminal record. Furthermore, a community-based sentence may be obtained even where the Crown is seeking jail time.
Rest assured, our lawyers will work hard to defend you so that you are not saddled with the consequences of a criminal conviction for assaulting a peace officer. In fact, we can canvass a range of sentencing options with the Prosecutors that will either leave you with no criminal record or impose minimal restrictions on your liberty after sentencing. To learn more about potential non-criminal resolutions, please visit our Resolutions page, or read our FAQ on resolutions and other sentencing options.
Defending Assaulting a Peace Officer Charges in Toronto
What are the best defences to assaulting a peace officer charges in Toronto?
In assaulting a peace officer cases, the defences that may be available to you depend on the facts of your case.
In general, the best defences are:
- Factual Innocence: This is usually the strongest defence because the facts and the evidence do not support you causing the assault or other basic elements of the offence. This could include:
- Identity: In some circumstances where the offence was not recorded by surveillance footage, or the footage is poor quality, you may be able to raise an identity defence. For example, authorities could have made a mistake in identifying you as the perpetrator based on the poor quality of the footage. In order to effectively raise this defence, you may need corroborative evidence, such as an alibi to where you were at the time of the offence.
- No Assault: If you can challenge the mental or physical elements of the assault, then you cannot be convicted of assaulting a peace officer. For example, if you had consent to apply force, this could challenge the physical element of the offence.
- Self-defence: If you committed the assault in order to defend yourself against an attack, this will challenge the assaulting a peace officer conviction. It’s important to note, however, that you must prove that your actions were proportional to the attack you were defending yourself against.
- Defending Someone Else: Reasonable force or the threat of force can also be used to defend someone else against an unlawful attack, provided there was no intent to cause death or grievous bodily harm.
- Defending Property: Reasonable force or the threat of force can also be used to defend property, though this may be a weaker defence in many situations.
- “Unlawful Exercise of Duty”:This defence may arise if an officer is not acting in the lawful execution of duty. If an officer is overstepping their authority in effecting an arrest without telling you why, for example, this will challenge the definition of “duty” in the Criminal Code. However, a conviction for common assault may succeed, nonetheless.
- Violation of Constitutional Rights: The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms sets out your rights before and after your arrest. If the police fail to abide by these rights, it could aid in your defence.
While the Crown must prove the elements of the offence beyond a reasonable doubt, you may bear some responsibility in raising certain defences at trial. The burden of proof remains high for this kind of prosecution. This means that there are many successful defence strategies that our experienced defence lawyers can take, depending on the circumstances of your case.
The availability and strength of any defence depends entirely on the specific facts of your case. Our lawyers have significant experience assessing the availability and strengths of various potential defences in assaulting a peace officer cases, as well as presenting any and all available defences to the Court at trial. Even if you believe that you will be found guilty, it is important that you obtain a legal opinion about defences that may be available to you.
How can I help defend assaulting a peace officer charges in Toronto?
If you have been charged with assaulting a peace officer in Toronto, the following can help your lawyer build a strong defence:
- Provide your lawyer with a statement about what happened;
- Collect and maintain all documents and records about the event;
- Gather a list of witnesses that may support your version of events; and
- Log any relevant texts, emails, phone calls or photographic evidence.
As soon as you are released on bail, you should start to gather any information that may be of use to your lawyer. What information is relevant will depend on the facts in your case. If you are uncertain what information to collect, you should contact one of our lawyers immediately to create a plan of action for gathering information.
If you are truly proactive about the matter, consider doing the following:
- Secure proof of employment;
- Secure reference letters;
- Enroll in counselling (anger management/substance abuse/parenting);
- Secure a record of prescriptions; and
- Secure a record of any mental health conditions you suffer from.
These steps can be very helpful for building an effective defence (or convincing the Prosecutor to drop the charges altogether).
What can a lawyer do to help me defend against assaulting a peace officer charges in Toronto?
As we start preparing your defence by examining police actions and the evidence against you, there are certain defence strategies that can be used to aid your cause, including:
- Assembling documents, photographs, texts, etc. that contradict the allegation and support your defence;
- Gathering evidence from witnesses that support your version of events;
- Identifying mistakes in the actions of the police, such as Charter breaches;
- Uncovering administrative/systemic errors, such as “Jordan delay,” non-disclosure, lost or destroyed evidence, etc.; and
- Finding weaknesses or “holes” in the Crown’s case that may make it difficult or impossible for them to establish the elements of the offence.
What’s Next?
Most of the information above relates to simple assaulting a peace officer cases, which can still be complex and fact-specific. The circumstances of your case will likely further complicate the matter.
We have tried our best to provide a general outline of what you can expect if you find yourself in this situation, but this is just the tip of the iceberg.
To learn more about how we can help, please contact our team of Assaulting a Peace Officer Lawyers. We will conduct a thorough review of your situation and tailor a precise strategy that targets your successful defence.
