Saskatoon police guilty of unlawful confinement fired from force

Two police officers accused of dropping off an aboriginal man on the outskirts of the city in freezing weather have been found guilty of unlawful confinement.

But constables Dan Hatchen and Ken Munson were acquitted of assault in the case that heightened tension between police and the native community.

Late Thursday night both men were fired from their jobs.

Neither man showed any emotion when the jury's verdict was read in court late Thursday afternoon.

Both officers admitted leaving Darrell Night on the edge of Saskatoon before dawn on Jan. 28, 2000 when the temperature was below minus 22 degrees Celsius.

But their lawyers had argued their behaviour was misguided, not criminal.

Night testified that he filed his complaint after hearing that another man had frozen to death near the same spot where he was dropped off.

The officers swore and called him an "Indian" when they dumped him by a power station, Night told the court. He also said that he smashed his head on the police cruiser's door frame when he was pulled outside.

Hatchen and Munson denied the accusations. The officers said they arrested Night for causing a disturbance after he hit their police cruiser and called them "racist bastards."

The jury of seven men and five women, all white, deliberated for about seven hours Wednesday night before retiring for the night. They reached their verdict Thursday, after another seven hours of talks.

Earlier in the day, they returned to the courtroom with a question about rules governing when people in custody must be released.

Judge Eugene Scheibel told them that detained individuals must be let go as soon as practical if they're not going to be charged.

"Any further unreasonable detention or confinement is unlawful," Scheibel said.

"The release must be made at an appropriate time and in reasonable circumstances unless a person consents," the judge added. He said it would be up to them to decide if a man with no scarf or gloves would have consented to being left at the power station on such a cold night.