The hearing of a Windsor police officer who struck a woman while trying to make an arrest boils down to the question of what was reasonable force, argues the prosecutor.
“You have to look at whether or not the response was reasonable given the circumstances,” Suzanne Porter said in her closing arguments on Friday.
“I submit to you that a punch in the face was not reasonable.”
Const. Anthony Fanara is facing a charge of excessive exercise of authority under the Police Services Act for a March 2013 incident in which he hit 26-year-old Samantha Lauzon when she allegedly interfered with the arrest of her then-boyfriend.
Last year, Fanara and his partner responded to a call about a fight at the Canadian Anglo Club with the possible involvement of a knife. Upon arrival, the officers arrested and searched a man named Sopha Theam — while Lauzon berated them.
Although Fanara doesn’t dispute he hit Lauzon once, with a clenched fist, he testified that doing so was necessary because Lauzon slapped him and the situation was potentially dangerous.
A Facebook image of Samantha Lauzon.
But Porter noted that the investigation of the original fight didn’t continue after the altercation with Lauzon.
Porter asked: If the possibility of a knife made the situation unsafe, why didn’t Fanara and his partner search for a weapon harder after Lauzon was cuffed?
Instead, there was only a “cursory” search in some bushes — which came up empty. “It’s like the knife became a non-entity,” Porter said.
Lauzon has said the punch left her bloody. Police have said there was no evidence of that.
But Porter said Friday that video from the prisoner transport van shows Lauzon asking for her hair to be moved from her face — because strands were sticking to the dried blood around her mouth.
Ed Parent of the Windsor Police Association, who is representing Fanara, argued that the law states officers can’t be expected to measure physical force with exactitude, and that Fanara believed a punch was the lowest form of force he could’ve used in the situation.
Porter repudiated this, saying such an argument throws Ontario’s use of force model “out the window.”
“Go out on the street and do whatever you please,” Porter scoffed.
Porter also pointed out there were only four people present who could know what happened: Fanara and Lauzon; Fanara’s partner — who didn’t see Lauzon slap Fanara; and Lauzon’s then-boyfriend, Theam — who couldn’t be located to testify at the hearing. “We don’t know what he would say,” Porter said.
No more arguments will be heard on the matter. Supt. John St. Louis has scheduled the hearing to reconvene on May 27 for his decision.
Fanara has not been suspended.
Outside the hearing room, Lauzon said she pursued her complaint “so that this doesn’t happen to any other person.”
“I just wanted it to be known,” she said, adding that she thought the proceedings were fair.
The Canadian Anglo Club at 1211 Lauzon Rd. in Windsor is shown in this undated Google Maps image.
