Never a good thing.

Since the charges are going forward, there must be grounds for criminal charges, not just banter.
That's a bummer!

Never a good thing and is a bummer when anyone is charged with assault. Not just when it's a cop.

We had to take out son to emergency in the middle of the night ,he was in terrible pain he had to wait his turn ,while staff took care of you know what , after sitting half the night and seeing what goes on , I would not want to work there or have to attend to the out of control male .The police were called to protect staff and people waiting to see a Doc.If these you know whats can charge police we are trouble .There better be good grounds.

Bitter:
You have lost me. What are these "You know what's"and "You know who's"?
Just why did the one cop have to stay after the other one left with a male in restarints. Maybe that cop is a "You know who" or a "you know what".
You'd think these cops could do their job without breaking the law or letting their personal problems get in the way.

Huh ; go sit in emergency in the middle of the night and you will clue in.

On another note. Have you ever been to the hospital "waiting room"? I don't bother to call it the "emergency room" anymore. C'mon folks. We all know the hospital staff are trying to get us to fight their battle with the Liberal Gov't. Sit there for 3 hours when you are in constant pain and watch people standing around having coffee and ignoring you because you have not waited the mandatory 3 hours yet. I hope someone does go ballistic there! They deserve it. Taser the staff if you need to be so taser happy! I've seen many unhappy hospital staff haters there.

There are some negative attitudes here, in regards to the police. I guess there are blind cop haters in every crowd. For myself, I have spoken out against the rcmp in cases like the killing of the young man in Vanderhoof (Kevin ????sorry) and the killing of the young man in Houston, (Ian ????sorry) and not to mention the notorious mass deployment of conductive energy devices upon the person of Robert Djiekanski, but in this case it sure sounds like a policeman has been wrongly accused.
I would not want to have to deal with the dregs of society on a daily basis, like our police do, and I do doubt the integrity of some of these miscreants when they claim brutality at the hands of the police.
This guy shows up at the hospital and misbehaves to the point where the doctors and nurses have to call the police? Is that not a smoking gun? Does that not tell you that this person was/is a trouble maker? It is hard for me to imagine that the mountie in question abused the person to the point where assault charges are appropriate.
metalman.

If the guy was in restarints, he might be able to take a boot at someone. If you get booted hard enough you might just retaliate without considering your job. I'll wait and see but I rarely trust the justice system to find the truth. When it comes right down to it; I couldn't care less about these cases. They make no difference regardless of the outcome.

It's common for the public to jump on the RCMP for alleged assaults. The public is not privy to any of the information to protect the integrity of the investigation.
But you folks have to know, I am not an RCMP member but through my work I have many dealings with them.
I regard Constable Emon as a colleague and I am shocked that he is being charged with assault. He has worked with the most vulnerable and high-risk population in Prince George. And I have observed Constable Emon countless times treat volatile and out of control people with dignity and respect.
I have placed my trust in Constable Emon numerous times to handle cases in a just and appropriate manner. I have never been disappointed in his efforts.
I am confident that the truth will reveal itself.

You don't get charged with assault, especially if you are a cop, without there being some evidence. He's not guilty until convicted but that there was enough to charge him is troubling.

There are some bad cops in PG but you will find bad people in any sample of the population. I get more PO'd at the cops that know their co-worker is bad but they cover it up. They might think that they are protecting the force's rep but they are making it worse cause then you can't trust any cop.

dnakamura.....you might think you know him but how many times are friends and neighbours interviewed who can't believe that the good guy they know could possibly commit a crime?

Gitterdun, I trust Chris Emon. I've been in the trenches a long time and I know a good person when I see one. I get what you're saying though, I really do. Let's see how this plays out....

Now that charges are being laid against the member, why not give him his day in court to try and prove his innocence just like the piece of work he was watching, if he has been charged with anything.

"the piece of work he was watching"

Does anyone know whether this individual was "a piece of work" or possibly just someone who was hypoglycemic or extremely hyperglycemic or had some other medical condition which have such associated symptoms as abnormal mood swings which cause the patient to suffer from mental confusion, loss of coordination and become beligerant, irritabble, combative, etc.? In fact, the person can seem to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs?

Remember, this individual was not brought in by the RCMP. This inividual, unless someone knows differently on here, brought himself in or was brought in by family or friend.

I seem to recall some sort of incident with a distraught person in the Vancouver airport who became beligerant, irritable, combative, etc. and the situation escalated when the RCMP were called in.

I think we are starting to learn that not all RCMP are equally capable of handling such situations.

Dnakamura, do you know anything more about the patient? How often have you seen the accused under stressful work situations such as this case? Obviously it was a stressful situation if I am to believe you that he is not able to do what, after a lengthy investigation, he is being accused of doing.

You know, the RCMP are human beings, and like everyone else they make mistakes. Everyone wants to hold them to the same standard as the rest of us. If someone lips me off and I punch them, I get charged with assault.

Well, they get lipped off all day long, they get assaulted on a regular basis, and to add insult to injury, the people they work to protect bash them on a regular basis. I think if every now and then a cop loses it and whacks a guy, it's no biggie. In fact, when I was growing up, it was almost expected.

I was a mouthy beligerant teenager and a few times I had a flashlight pushed into my face with an offer to remove all my teeth - and I deserved it.

I hope this constable isn't a victim of the RCMP having swept so much stuff under the rug, that they feel they have to start charging someone - and this guy is the first.

Keep in mind people, if the police have to overthink their job, when some guy is on top of you kicking the crap out of you, and the RCMP show up, do you really want the constable worried about what might happen if he tasers/kicks/ or clubs the guy kicking the s**t out of you?

I don't know about the events of this case,but I will say that I could never be a cop and take the abuse they must take day in and day out and not eventually strike back at someone.The first time a person spit at me would probably be the breaking point.I have spent many days and nights in the emergency department and I wouldn't want to work there for all the tea in China.People being loud,belligerent,threatening,puking and physically abusive is something which is frowned upon in most work places.Some will say that these people should find a different line of work then,but if everyone did that,we wouldn't have any cops or nurses.

An assault charge against and RCMP member who was watching a detainee in the hospital who was "restrained"….Hummm

If anyone has had the unfortunate occasion to be in the local hospital emergency ward (at any given time) you will understand the level of frustration people are under waiting to be seen by a doctor. The hospital holds all liability for the actions of people who seek the care of a doctor.

The wait time is pure BS the hospital's (hospital administration) concept of triage is ridiculous. With minor treatment "closed due to staffing issues" patients who could be seen treated and released in timely fashion stack up in emergency like cord wood.

This is a teaching hospital (or so they claim) so where are all the student doctors and why are they not tasked to look after minor issues under a senior doctor's supervision? So you ask why have I turned the light on the hospital and away from the Mountie? Well if the hospital actually quits being a stupid and actually treats people in a timely fashion (not using there assumed wait time chart, oh yes they have a wait time chart). Then this assault issue may not have occurred (at least not in the hospital).

We will hear about the details of the occurrence in due time. But we need to consider everything when comment on something involving the hospital. The security staff are a joke, no seriously they are laughable. Go to any other major city in BC and you will find hospital security staff that are not afraid of there own shadows. Commonly they are trained in Fire / Security and have advanced training in dealing with all aspects of patient handling from the Psychiatric ward right down to maternity and geriatrics.

The hospital is littered with cameras so the events will be brought to light if this occurred in a hallway or monitored area. Dealing with a restrained "individual" who may have been experiencing medical issues (self inflicted or naturally occurring) can be difficult at best if they are agitated. But one must keep in mind that just going to our local hospital for assistance with minor medical issues can make anyone of us "agitated".

As a retired first responder and former security consultant, I can say that the hospital is in need of some serious protocol review. As for the assault, it is what it is, a claim has been made and the situation will be reviewed by a judge who will decide if the actions or force was justified in the situation. What can look like undue force to one person can be the appropriate action from the perspective of the officer and other individuals involved. Have there been abuses of power in the past, sure there have but until we get the whole story we are just doing the arm chair quarter backing thing. But I still think the hospital policy is responsible for some of the blame in this and many other "aggressive behavior" situations.

Well said, professional

ski50 wrote: "the RCMP are human beings"

Yes, we all are. That includes the patients and the hospital staff.

Both the RCMP and the hospital staff are in work situations where they are expected to be trained for such situations and are also expected to have some experience with such situations. If they do not have the experience, then they should be shadowed by someone who does.

The patient, on the other hand, is not trained to be a patient. In fact, this might be his first time in the situation and thus develop a natural fear for his wellbeing or display symptoms brought on by chemical, physical, and psychological imbalances which can develop very quickly in an ill person or a person who has waited too long to seek medical help.

The workers should not have any of that. They may be under stress due to their work load, and even due to being in situations they ae not all that familiar with.

The other thing I would like to remind everyone of is that we are hearing about this because a complaint was filed and charges are laid. How many times does something like this occur without complaints being made and how many without those complaints resulting in charges being filed?

I agree with professional's take on this and I am quite sure this is the tip of the iceberg we are seeing.

Actually the RCMP are expected to be trained is getting a little old for me. Originally there were two cops, and then one left - why? If it took two to restrain, why didn't it take two to guard? My guess is the other cop had to go back out on the streets to deal with the other morons out there. And he/she had to leave because frankly, there just isn't enough cops available anymore to do the job we ask them. So they can be trained all you want, but no training makes up for a lack of manpower.

Now of course we could always hire more cops, but the incessant bitching on this site and every other site about the HST and taxes being too high, puts us in a situation of unreasonable demands on the police and an unwillingness to provide them with proper resources. So when a "trained" cop screws up and breaks the law, we now have one less "trained" cop because he'll probably get fired if he gets convicted.

Of course this cop may just have been totally wrong and time will tell, but we sure seem to ask a lot of them and give very little support in return. And what's worse, is we now have a politically correct RCMP which is comprised of people two small and too weak to do the job, putting even more strain on those who actually can fight there way out of a wet paper bag.

There is no such constraint on the criminal element. They can recruit the biggest and baddest they want, and we send kids up against them and then get surprised when someone pulls out a taser or gun to defend themselves.

I can understand a person being frustrated if they have to wait 2-3 hours for a doctor. But when you are being looked at why be beligerent and obnoxious to the point police have to be called. No excuse for that but I'm sure the bleeding hearts will find something to bitch about the police who also lookout for your safety.

I really wonder why anyone would want to be a police officer in Canada anymore ! They should just stay in their rotten old building, sleep between emergency calls, and work out in the gym like the firemen !

Very valid points Gus, those of potential causes of distress, like hypoglycemia etc.
Let's all wait and see how this turns out, shall we?
metalman.

Boon, I would like to suggest you walk in a fireman's shoes before you beak off.

"If it took two to restrain, why didn't it take two to guard?"

Who knows. For all I know he went to get some coffee.

retired senior wrote: "I can understand a person being frustrated if they have to wait 2-3 hours for a doctor. But when you are being looked at why be beligerent"

I reread the article and cannot find anywhere in it that the person was being looked after. In fact, there is nothing there that even mentioned that he was a patient rather than someone accompanying a patient or someone looking for his kid or girlfriend or aunt or next door neighbour. There is no explanation of why that individual was there.

Many of us (not all), including me, have been making the assumption that he was a patient. :-)

Well i guess just about everybody's excuse has been used and it looks like some of you are finding the RCMP guilty until he proves himself innocent. Maybe you think he(The patient or whatever) could have been stoned on something. That has happened once or twice before in our town. Believe it or not :-)