Man shot with rubber bullets during wrongful arrest wants Vancouver police held accountable

An innocent man who was mistaken for a home invasion suspect and shot with rubber bullets last week wants to see the Vancouver police officers involved in his wrongful arrest held accountable.

Elijah Barnett told CTV News he was walking a friend's dog in the city's Yaletown neighbourhood last Wednesday when he was suddenly knocked to the ground.

"I thought I'd been hit by a car at first and realized I was being swarmed by police and K9 units," Barnett said in a written statement. "They were beating me and ripping at my clothes."

The officers also fired two less-lethal ARWEN rounds at him. Barnett shared pictures on social media showing large purple bruises on his stomach and buttocks after the arrest.

“I was terrified for my life. I was shot point blank,” he told reporters Tuesday.

"They shot first asked questions second, 100 per cent. Nobody approached me, nobody approached me at all, I was just beaten and taken to the ground and interrogated while being beaten,” he said.

"After they realized their error I was 'dusted off' and sent on my way with a blatant empty apology," Barnett wrote. "I have cuts, scrapes and bruises all over my body. I feel like I've been hit by a truck and have mobility issues due to injuries."

One witness tells CTV News police were six feet away when they fired on Barnett.

"I heard, 'On the ground! On the ground!' And I saw the guy walking his dog and he literally took two steps and they were running,” the Yaletown resident, who did not want to be identified, said.

Barnett is visiting from Toronto and was wearing headphones at the time. He is also partially deaf.

He says he was held on the ground for an hour.

“I pled with every bit of information about me and family and everything I could give them."

He was given the badge numbers of five officers involved, but believes there were at least 20 on the scene.

He told CTV News he would like the officers who arrested him suspended without pay, and ultimately charged for the way he was treated.

Sgt. Steve Addison, a spokesperson for the Vancouver Police Department, confirmed the officers remained on active duty as of Monday. B.C.'s Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner has been notified about the incident, and will be conducting an independent review of the circumstances of Barnett's arrest.

Addison said police were working on "reliable information" that a suspect in a violent home invasion in Calgary was near Richards Street and Pacific Boulevard, where Barnett was walking his friend's dog.

An Emergency Response Team was deployed over concerns the suspect might be armed with a gun.

Addison said Barnett "bore a resemblance" to the suspect they were looking for, but did not explain why officers decided to use force while arresting him. He said that would be part of the OPCC's review.

"Obviously a very unfortunate set of circumstances," Addison told CTV News on Monday.

"We think it's really important that Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner conduct an independent review of all of the circumstances here to determine exactly what happened, and we fully support that."

Authorities have acknowledged that Barnett was wrongfully arrested, but Addison suggested the mistake was identified "within minutes" of him being taken into custody.

In addition to the apologies offered by officers at the time of Barnett’s arrest, Addison said senior officials with the Vancouver Police Department have since extended apologies of their own.

Barnett says an apology won’t make him feel safe walking down the sidewalk alone again.

The suspect officers were searching for – 47-year-old Dean Patrick Gallant – was arrested the same day near BC Children's Hospital. Another suspect wanted in connection with the Calgary home invasion, 35-year-old Tinesha Lee Redwood, was also taken into custody Sunday morning in downtown Vancouver.

Both suspects are facing multiple charges, including break and enter, assault and robbery.

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Spencer Harwood and Abigail Turner.