Cop broke heroin addict's arm

Source:Cnews

By SAM PAZZANO, QMI Agency


NEWMARKET, Ont. - A hulking Toronto cop was found guilty Tuesday of assault causing bodily harm for breaking a scrawny heroin addict's arm.

Madam Justice Lucia Favret found Det. Christopher Higgins guilty of assault causing bodily harm against Gary Shuparski, then 50, on April 1, 2004, based on medical evidence and other testimony that corroborates the addict's version of events.

"It doesn't make any sense that he wouldn't have complained of (the broken arm) earlier, so he could make the police take him to the hospital," Favret said in reading her judgment.

Shuparski testified that Higgins kicked his arm "like a football" in an interview room at 51 Division while the 5-foot-7, 120-pound prisoner was on the floor, using his forearms to protect his ribs.

It's the second trial on these allegations for Higgins, 39, a 20-year veteran of the police service, who was acquitted at a 2005 trial. The Crown appealed, winning a second trial in 2007.

Shuparski received what is known as a "classic night-stick fracture" -- which usually occurs when the forearm bone, exposed in a defensive gesture, is struck by a hard object such as a baseball bat or lead pipe, court heard.

The defence is asserting Shuparski's arm was accidentally broken when 250-pound Const. Joe Pedneault and 275-pound Higgins arrested him at his North York apartment.

Favret rejected the defence version. She ruled instead that his arm was broken in an interview room at 51 Division when Shuparski was alone in the room with Higgins.

Shuparski angered the burly Higgins by using an obscenity to tell him to look up his date of birth, rather than answering the officer's question.

Shuparski, who died of a heroin overdose in 2006, testified he was punched and dropped to the floor.

He said he then shielded his ribs with his arms from Higgins' kick.

Favret noted that Shuparski was strip-searched, removing his T-shirt without difficulty, and appeared normal, if upset, by the arrest.

His immediate reaction -- profanely accusing Higgins of breaking his f---ing arm" -- and writhing in intense pain was consistent with expert medical evidence given at the trial, said Favret.

Favret will sentence Higgins on Sept. 29.

sam.pazzano@sunmedia.ca