An RCMP officer admitted he punched a pregnant woman in the face during a raid on a drug house in Kelowna, but he says he was aiming for her pit bull.
Const. Steve Conlon, who is on trial for assault causing bodily harm, testified he felt the dog grab his arm and when he went to hit the dog he also struck the woman, Crystal Young.
"The dog . . . locked on to my right tricep," Conlon said Tuesday. "I didn't see it happen at all. I hit it with the downward motion of my fist and the dog let out a yelp. It went to the ground and I struck her in the eyebrow area. It was one motion."
But Young testified earlier she was trying to hold the dog back when Conlon walked past the animal, hit her in the eye with his fist and pulled her to the floor.
The incident happened in February of 2009 when Conlon and four other officers stormed a crack house after a shooting nearby in which another officer wounded a man wanted on a Canada Wide warrant.
Const. Kent Hall had confronted Mark Aaron Pauls outside the house. Pauls, wanted on a Canada-wide warrant, fired pepper spray at Hall and ran away.
Hall answered with several shots from his pistol as they ran and shot Pauls in both legs. Pauls underwent surgery and recovered.
