David Banford claimed he was attacked by civilians and also police after being found at a cabin he didn't belong at. The IIO has refuted those claims. (submitted/David Banford)

By Spencer Sterritt

takedown

IIO throws out excessive force claim from man taken down by Nanaimo RCMP police dog

Nov 14, 2019 | 2:44 AM

NANAIMO — A wanted man taken down by a police dog in the mountains outside Nanaimo doesn’t have a leg to stand on when claiming Nanaimo RCMP used excessive force.

The Independent Investigations Office, which looks into all cases where injuries occur during police action, has ruled against David Banford.

“The degree of force used was at the upper end of the justifiable range and, in different circumstances, might well be considered excessive,” the report said. “In these circumstances, however, it was not.”

Banford, who identified himself to NanaimoNewsNOW as the man involved, told investigators a story which didn’t sync up with official statements from the officers and witnesses involved on Feb. 16, 2019.

Banford claimed he and a female companion were stranded in the woods for two days.

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When looking for help, Banford said he was assaulted by a man with a crowbar outside a wood shed on a Nanaimo Lakes Rd. property.

In total, Banford said he was confronted by four men with weapons who accused him of breaking into and stealing from a cabin.

“They’re…threatening my life, with death, with not calling the cops, taking care of it themselves,” Banford told investigators.

However, the investigators found holes in Banford’s story.

“Medical personnel neither noted nor treated any injury consistent with such assaults,” it said.

Having bear sprayed the group of men, Banford ran away into the snowy woods.

From his account, he ran for his life into the woods, up a mountain and through a creek.

The report noted running away into the bush was “the exact opposite director of the police or any other help.”

Despite claiming to be running for his life, Banford stopped and spent the time to allegedly steal a trail camera he found on the mountain.

The trail camera recorded the ensuing chase and arrest since it was being carried in Banford’s pocket or bag.

He was found by a Nanaimo RCMP K9 unit several hours after running from the cabin.

Testimony from the officer involved said he “judged (Banford) as still motivated to escape” even after the police dog took Banford down.

The officer admitted to taking “the fight out of the suspect with two stun strikes with a closed fist to his face.”

The strikes left Banford with a fractured eye socket and nose.

Audio captured from the trail camera paints the picture of a tense scene on the side of the mountain.

“”You’re going to f*cking walk, one foot after another, on that f*cking tire mark,” the Nanaimo RCMP officer told Banford. “If you deviate, I’m going to send my f*cking dog on you again. Keep f*cking walking, you piece of sh*t.”

Banford was handed to paramedics and other officers roughly 30 minutes later.

The report from the IIO highlighted numerous differences between Banford’s account and details from the officers involved, the men at the cabin Banford allegedly broke in to and paramedics who treated Banford after his arrest.

“(Banford) said he was surrendering at the time the dog gratuitously bit him. His wounds, though, appear more consistent with his having been running away when he was bitten.”

Given the tough environmental conditions the takedown happened in, Banford’s previous efforts to run and the understanding he might have a weapon, the report found the officer who arrested him was justified in the aggressive arrest.

Banford is slated to go to trial in June, 2020 for two counts of assault and one count of break and enter.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit