A Winnipeg woman who says she was beaten by police then charged with assault and resisting arrest — will fight the charges in court this week.
Lana Sinclair said two police officers entered her home in 2014 on Halloween after a neighbour called to report yelling.
While one officer went upstairs to check on her son, the other approached and poked her, she told CBC News in 2014.
Sinclair jumped said she told the officer “you don't need to touch me.” That's when the officer pulled out his baton, she said.
'We’re both traumatized'
In videos from 2014, Sinclair’s face is black and blue with bruises, with a swollen eye.
The officer called her names and used slurs for native people, she said in an interview with Winnipeg Alternative Media. Sinclair told CTV News she was hit repeatedly, and her face smashed against a work table in her living room.
Her eight-year-old son saw what happened, she said.. “We’re both traumatized,” she told CBC News in an interview.
Different stories
The officers offered a very different version of events in court on Wednesday, according to CBC News reporter Jillian Taylor.
Constable Luka said Sinclair was outside yelling at her family when he and his partner arrived. He handcuffed her and she squirmed around, trying to headbutt him, he said, and then she slipped and hit her head on the floor.
Sinclair is a designer known for hand-making clothing, jewellery, and art. According to her website, she is a self-taught seamstress and is a member of the Fisher River First Nation band.
Sinclair reported the incident to the Law Enforcement Review Agency (LERA) and hired a lawyer to try and get the charges against her dropped.
LERA investigates complaints against all police departments in Manitoba, except the RCMP, according to the National Post. They receive about 200 complaints a year, mostly for excessive force, reports CTV News.
Only about four to six of those even go to hearing, LERA’s commissioner Max Churley said.