Judge condemns ‘gratuitous violence’ of Vancouver police jail guard convicted of assaults

Vancouver Police Department headquarters is seen in Vancouver, on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. (Darryl Dyck / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

A Vancouver police jail guard who violently assaulted two handcuffed detainees—including a 17-year-old Indigenous girl—has been sentenced to six months of house arrest for what a provincial court judge condemned as a “gross abuse of trust” and an attack “against the justice system itself.”

Omar Ahmed Flores, a 33-year-old special municipal constable with the Vancouver Police Department, pleaded guilty to a single count of assault that encompassed two separate incidents at the Vancouver jail in January 2023.

The first assault occurred in the early morning hours of Jan. 1, when the intoxicated teen was arrested outside an elementary school and brought to the jail to sober up.

Writing in a sentencing decision Wednesday, Judge Colleen Elden found that the girl “had limited control over her body” due to her extreme level of intoxication. “Her head slumped to the side, and she was unable to sit upright without assistance from the guards” the judge wrote.

Ahmed Flores punched the girl in the stomach four times while other guards and police officers strapped her ankles and waist into a restraining chair. “The force of the blows caused the restraint chair to move backward several times,” Elden wrote.

‘Tragic irony’ of teen’s arrest

The assault, captured on security video, unfolded in front of five other jail guards, four Vancouver police officers and several staff members, including a nurse.

“At the time Mr. Ahmed Flores punched (the victim), the immediate environment was highly controlled,” the judge wrote. “(The victim) was secured in the restraint chair, wearing a spit mask, and was being held by two or three jail guards.”

The judge criticized the Vancouver police for detaining the intoxicated teenager on New Year’s Eve in the first place, calling the officers’ conduct “abhorrent” and “draconian,” and questioning why the girl wasn’t driven home to her family instead.

“There is a tragic irony in the fact that (the victim) was taken into custody for her own protection—a decision that ultimately created the opportunity for Mr. Ahmed Flores to assault her in the manner described above,” the decision said.

The girl remained restrained in the chair for more than six hours after the assault, which Elden described as “another troubling example in this country’s long history of the mistreatment of Indigenous women.”

Guard stomped detainee’s head

Less than a week later, Ahmed Flores committed “an equally violent assault” on another detainee, according to the ruling.

Court heard the detainee had been remanded into custody after a virtual court appearance when he spat in Ahmed Flores’ direction. He avoided the spit as two other guards took the man to the ground.

Ahmed Flores then stomped on the detainee’s head, kicked him twice in the face and repeatedly punched and kneed him while other guards restrained him.

When guards later tried to escort the handcuffed detainee back to his cell, Ahmed Flores delivered three more knee blows to the man’s torso, dropping him to the ground again, the court heard.

Neither victim provided a victim impact statement before sentencing. Given their treatment, “it is not surprising that they did not wish to participate in the criminal justice system,” Elden wrote.

“They were both subjected to significant physical assaults and must have experienced immediate physical pain,” she added. “Further, they were both assaulted when they were restrained and in police custody, which must have left them feeling frightened, angry, and betrayed by the police.”

Guard placed on paid leave

Ahmed Flores, who joined the Vancouver Police Department in 2019, was placed on paid leave after the assaults and remained on leave at the time of his sentencing, three years later.

His lawyer told court Ahmed Flores now recognizes he is not suited to jail work and plans to resign and pursue a career as a firefighter.

Although Ahmed Flores had no criminal record, Elden said several aggravating factors were apparent in the case, including the “excessive and gratuitous violence” inflicted on restrained and defenceless detainees and the abuse of authority involved.

The judge singled out the assault on the teenager—“a child, deeply intoxicated, and an Indigenous female”— especially serious because she was “exceptionally vulnerable and susceptible to violence while in the hands of the state.”

The jail guard’s actions, committed when there was no threat to officer safety, “strike at the heart of the rule of law and seriously undermine public confidence in the administration of justice,” she added.

Prior abuse of authority

Elden did credit Ahmed Flores for pleading guilty, “notwithstanding that the Crown’s case was exceptionally strong based on the video evidence alone,” along with his lack of a prior criminal record and expressions of remorse.

But she rejected the defence’s argument that the assaults were out of character and linked to temporary psychological impairment.

The judge noted Ahmed Flores had previously been the subject of a substantiated “abuse of authority” complaint in August 2022 after he “made a motion to hit an inmate” and made “light contact” after the inmate attempted to prevent Ahmed Flores from entering his cell.

Later that year, a sergeant warned Ahmed Flores he was “too aggressive” with detainees and that others “found him to be intimidating,” according to a pre-sentencing psychological report.

“His sergeant advised him to reduce the number of physical altercations, encouraged him to attend counselling, and recommended that he take some time off work,” the judge wrote. “Ahmed Flores took one month off work and attended a small number of counselling sessions. He then returned to work and committed the offences shortly thereafter.”

‘Only appropriate sentence’ is jail

The defence sought a conditional discharge that would have left Ahmed Flores without a criminal conviction, while Crown prosecutors argued for a suspended sentence with probation. Elden rejected both options as too lenient.

“Having regard to all the relevant factors, I am satisfied that the only appropriate sentence is a jail sentence; any less restrictive sanction would simply not be proportionate,” she wrote. “The remaining question is whether that jail sentence should be served in the community or in a custodial institution.”

The judge ultimately concluded that serving the sentence under house arrest in the community would better achieve the restorative objectives of rehabilitation and accountability, sentencing Ahmed Flores to six months confined to his home.

Ahmed Flores was also ordered to have no contact with the victims, abstain from alcohol and drugs, attend counselling and avoid possessing weapons.

Vancouver Police Department jail guards are responsible for booking, searching, escorting and securing detainees in police custody. According to the department, they earn between $74,238 and $100,202 annually.