Video newly released by a judge to CTV Regina appears to show a police officer kicking a homeless man to the ground, causing him to smash his head on a concrete barrier on the way down.
The video was captured by a surveillance camera outside a detox centre in the city's downtown in May 2012.
In the footage, which the judge released to CTV and one other outlet, the homeless man, named Eddie Stonechild, appeared intoxicated as he made his way toward the entrance of the Regina Detox Centre, then sat down on a concrete retainer wall in front of the facility.
Const. Rob Power then pulled up in a cruiser, and the two appear to have a verbal exchange. Power then gets out of his vehicle, the two men move towards each other at the same time, and the officer then kicks Stonechild, forcing him to the ground with a blow to the abdomen.
Stonechild hit the ground and banged his head on a concrete wall as he fell.
Power then dons rubber gloves, flips Stonechild over, and puts him in handcuffs.
Stonechild was taken to hospital where he was treated for a cut to his head, then released.
Power was found guilty last year of assault causing bodily harm in relation to the incident.
Power was fired by Regina police after the charges were laid. However, he was reinstated in December 2014 after a Queen's Bench judge reviewed the case and overturned the conviction. An independent hearing officer appointed by the Saskatchewan Police Commission also ruled Power should be reinstated.
A Crown prosecutor filed an appeal in November against the decision to overturn Power's conviction, and the case is still in a state of legal limbo.
CTV Regina requested access to the video in early December 2014. A judge ruled Thursday that it could be released to CTV Regina as well as the Regina Leader-Post newspaper.
