NORTH VAN MAN ACQUITTED IN SEYMOUR PUB POLICE ASSAULT

A North Vancouver man was acquitted of assault against a police
officer in B.C. Supreme Court last week, after a judge ruled that an
unlawful arrest led to Antonio Bruno punching an RCMP corporal in the
face.

Bruno was also acquitted of several drug charges, but his brother
Carmine Bruno was convicted of four counts of possessing drugs for the
purpose of trafficking.

The case dates back to a confrontation outside of the Seymour Pub in
March 2006. According to their testimony, two RCMP officers were on
patrol in an unmarked vehicle when they pulled up alongside a car
driven by Carmine Bruno. Having already removed an open beer can from
the car, the officers told the Bruno brothers they were going to
search the vehicle for evidence of open alcohol. Antonio Bruno tried
to shut the passenger door, but one of the officers put his body in
the way.

As the corporal was informing Antonio Bruno that he would be arrested
for assaulting an officer, Carmine Bruno fled. The officer's partner
ran after him. A few seconds later, Antonio Bruno punched the corporal
in the face.

Supreme Court Judge Richard Goepel said that, because the officer had
purposefully placed himself in the way of the car door, "the arrest
was therefore unlawful and Antonio was entitled to resist."

Meanwhile, the second officer continued to chase Carmine Bruno, who
had taken a backpack from the car. He was arrested at gunpoint, and a
warranted search of the backpack revealed it contained marijuana and
other illegal drugs.

Later, at the RCMP detachment, Carmine Bruno told an officer that he
was working off his debt by doing drug deliveries for other people.

His girlfriend, Katrina Benson, was in the back seat of the car during
the arrest. She testified the drug-filled backpack actually belonged
to another passenger, who is now dead.

But no other witnesses remembered seeing a fourth person in the car.
"Her evidence does not have an air of reality," Goepel wrote in his
decision.

The judge found Carmine Bruno guilty on all charges, but acquitted his
brother Antonio because "no evidence links him to the knapsack."

Carmine Bruno is awaiting sentencing.