Windsor cop acquitted of assault after 2023 fight in Centretown pub

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Windsor police Sgt. Deler Bal was acquitted of assault charges Thursday after claiming self-defence when he engaged in a fistfight with an Ottawa man inside the bathroom of a Centretown pub in 2023.

Ontario Court Justice Juliana Martel said the Crown did not rebut Bal’s assertion that he acted in self-defence when he repeatedly punched Donald Conner inside the bathroom in a fight that began as a verbal altercation and quickly escalated to punches.

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The judge said she was “unable to conclude that Mr. Bal’s actions constituted a criminal act” and said the officer was entitled to an acquittal on charges of assault and assault causing bodily harm.

There were no eyewitnesses to the moments leading up to the brawl, which started when Bal entered the bathroom after Conner and tried to open the lone bathroom stall while Conner was already inside.

The two exchanged words after that, but both men offered differing accounts of the fight when they testified separately during Bal’s five-day trial in January.

Security video from inside the Prohibition Public House on Somerset Street shows the moments before the fight as the two men are seen entering the bathroom about 14 seconds apart around 8:47 p.m. on Sept. 23, 2023.

The same video shows the two men lumbering out of the bathroom minutes later and into the hallway, where Bal can be seen throwing several punches as Conner appears to be taking a defensive stance.

The judge pointed to several inconsistencies in Conner’s account and said the contradictions impacted the credibility and reliability of his testimony.

Martel said Bal answered all of his questions “fairly, thoughtfully and on point. He did not try to embellish his evidence in any way and conceded fairly that Mr. Conner had not made any verbal threats, raised his fists or made any invitation to fight him.”

More to come…

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