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Durham Region constable charged with assault over incident during arrest: police
Durham Region constable charged with assault
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Doug Ives
A Durham regional police officer has been charged with assault over an incident the force says happened during an arrest.
Police say Const. Brandon Welsh-Battiste faces one count of assault and has been released on an undertaking.
They say Welsh-Battiste has served three years with the force and has been reassigned to administrative duties until the court case is finished.
He will then face an internal investigation.
Police did not provide any details regarding the alleged assault.
Investigators are asking anyone with information about the case to come forward.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2026.
Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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Vancouver officer tells Myles Gray hearing of 'unnerving' call for help
Gray hearing: Officer tells of 'unnerving' call
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
A Vancouver police officer has told a public hearing into the fatal arrest in 2015 of Myles Gray about an "unnerving" call for assistance from a colleague who had encountered the man.
Const. Beau Spencer says he knew Const. Hardeep Sahota and her tone of voice on the radio call raised immediate concern, while an "animalistic roar" he later heard as he and his partner headed to the scene was like nothing he had ever heard on a police radio.
Spencer is among seven Vancouver officers facing a public hearing set off by B.C.'s Police Complaint Commissioner into whether they committed misconduct during the confrontation.
He says in his second day of testimony that he and his partner were "quite anxious" to get to the scene, as radio calls from there "continued to escalate."
He says another call came in when three officers were on the scene, and it did not sound like the person they were dealing with was "under control" and this was "very concerning."
No charges have been laid over Gray's death, which a 2023 coroner's inquest ruled was a homicide, a term that does not assign legal blame.
The commissioner's notice of public hearing said an earlier disciplinary process had dismissed misconduct allegations, but the discipline authority found the process "strangely lopsided" and had to decide the case despite "discrepancies and inconsistencies in statements made by (Vancouver Police Department) members."
The earlier inquest heard Gray was left with injuries that included a fractured eye socket, crushed voice box and ruptured testicles, while a paramedic said Gray's bruising was so severe, he initially thought Gray was not a white man.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2026.
Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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France to decide next month on extradition of ex-Manitoba law dean in fraud case
Ex-Manitoba law dean fights extradition in France
THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods
A former law dean at the University of Manitoba wanted on a fraud charge is expected to learn next month if he will be extradited from France.
A court document says Jonathan Black-Branch was in the Investigating Chamber of the Versailles Court of Appeal today opposing his extradition.
The court reserved its decision to Nov. 6.
Black-Branch was arrested in a municipality west of Paris in April, after a Canada-wide arrest warrant was issued for fraud over $5,000.
The disbarred lawyer is accused of misusing more than $600,000 from the university to pay his bills, buy pricey meals at a members-only club and spend on his education at Ivy League schools.
Black-Branch was hired as the Winnipeg university's law dean in 2016 but suddenly left the post in 2020 and moved to Europe.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2026.
By Brittany Hobson | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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