Nursing Student Gets Dragged By Her Hair, Head Stepped on By Police During Wellness Check

June 24, 2020

A video has emerged showing a police officer dragging a handcuffed woman in Canada during a supposed wellness check.

Nursing student Mona Wang alleged in a lawsuit that a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer left her physically injured and emotionally scarred at a time that she was in “crisis.”

The RCMP officer, identified as Const. Lacy Browning, was dispatched to Wang’s house in Kelowna, British Columbia on January 20 after her boyfriend called police to request a wellness check.

Wang claimed in her lawsuit that she was kicked, punched and dragged through her building, Castanet News reported.

According to Wang, she was unable to stand at the time, but Browning demanded she gets up. When she didn’t, the officer allegedly kicked her.

In the surveillance footage, the female officer is shown dragging Wang by her wrists and arms down the apartment building’s hallway and through the lobby. Wang was handcuffed and wearing only a bra and leggings when she was forced out of her home. Browning can later be seen standing over Wang, putting her boot on the victim’s head.

At one point, she also pulled Wang by the hair before lowering her head back to the ground.

The video was released as part of the civil action Wang filed in March against Browning, the federal attorney general and provincial public safety minister.

In her version of the events, the officer claimed she believed Wang posed a threat to herself and to others. The officer says that she found Wang to be intoxicated and holding a boxcutter knife when she arrived at her home. Browning says Wang was bleeding due to lacerations on her chest and upper arm.

She accused Wang of not following orders and swearing excessively. Wang was allegedly swinging her arms when Browning tried to handcuff her. Wang reportedly refused to leave the apartment.

Based on court documents, the officer said she took away the boxcutter from Wang, who was then “behaving in a bizarre and erratic manner.” She also noted a nearly empty wine bottle and some melatonin and acetaminophen pills scattered about.

Wang says in an interview with CTV News that she “wasn’t really in a great state of mind” at the time and admitted to ingesting wine and pills.

“So, I was hyperventilating and that was why I think I was drifting in and out of consciousness,” Wang was quoted as saying.

The officer then told her in the video to “stop being dramatic.”

Wang’s case comes amid growing criticism against the use of police force during wellness checks in Canada. At least four people have died in police custody in the country during calls for wellness and mental health checks since April.

Feature Image via Castanet News

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