Kelowna Mountie seen in shocking wellness check video placed on administrative duties

KELOWNA (NEWS 1130) – A Kelowna Mountie seen dragging a nursing student and stepping on her head during a wellness check has been placed on desk duty.

It comes as surveillance video of the January incident goes viral, prompting both the Kelowna RCMP and the student to publicly speak out, for the first time.

In a statement released Tuesday night, the top cop in Kelowna says she understands and respects the concerns the video has raised, adding Corporal Lacey Browning — the accused officer — is subject to continual assessment.

“Once we received the videos the materials were reviewed immediately specifically as it relates to the police officer’s actions. As a result of the review, we can confirm that an internal Code of Conduct and criminal investigation were initiated and they are ongoing,” Insp. Laura Livingstone says.

Statement from the Acting OIC of Kelowna RCMP – Update on concerns raised by the 2020 Kelowna incident https://t.co/BR3P3nl9Uj #Kelowna pic.twitter.com/zT8q7oJZNE

— Kelowna RCMP (@KelownaRCMP) June 24, 2020

“With the other investigation, the RCMP will also be asking an outside police department to independently review the findings of our criminal investigation once completed,” Livingstone’s statement reads.

Widely circulated surveillance video shows a Mountie dragging Mona Wang face-first down a carpeted hallway, in her bra, with her hands handcuffed behind her back. In the lobby, the officer is seen lifting Wang’s head by her hair and at one point, stepping on her head when she tries to lift it.

Speaking to Castanet, Wang — who has filed a lawsuit — calls the incident degrading and embarassing, adding cops were called to check on her during a suicide attempt.

“Feeling so powerless, you know?” Wang tells the Okanagan outlet. “Like feeling like who do you go to when the person you’re supposed to go to is the one causing the harm?”

Wang says she lost consciousness after being beaten by the officer in her suite and doesn’t remember being dragged down the hallway.

“I remember waking up in the elevator and then she dragged me into the lobby and that was quite embarrassing. So many of the people who lived in my building are walking past, and you know, I was like screaming for help and you know it was just really bad situation to be in,” Wang recalls. “There was no reason why she needed to drag me down to the lobby.”

She says she had one previous suicide attempt that was attended by paramedics, something she wishes happened this time as well.

“It was very degrading, you know, to already be down and then have her take it one step further and to assault me even more. You know, I was in handcuffs, I was on the floor, you know, I was no harm to her in that moment yet she felt it was necessary to kick my head down.”

Related stories: 

• ‘Reckless’ Kelowna RCMP officer seen dragging, stepping on head of nursing student during wellness check

• Wellness check system needs overhaul, no police: advocacy group

Browning has responded to the civil claims against her. The defendant claims Wang was “combative” when the RCMP attended, adding she supposedly resisted arrest and hit the officer “several times with an open palm.”

Browning also says she found Wang on the bathroom floor with a box cutter in her hand, cuts on her arms and chest, and surrounded by empty pill bottles and an a near-empty wine bottle. When she tried to ascertain Wang’s level of consciousness by performing a sternum rub, Browning claims she yelled at her and asked to be killed, according to the lawsuit response.

Wang disputes that she had a box cutter in her hand and Browning’s claim that she carried out a sternum rub.

“I know what a sternum rub is. Instead, she used her boot to step on my arm as hard as she can, I had bruises from that just to show how excessive the force was to arouse me,” Wang tells Castanet. “That kind of took me out of my unconsciousness. Obviously I was not happy. When someone comes and they’re supposed to be helping you and they’re calling you names and saying you’re an idiot and those kinds of things, it’s definitely hurtful.”

Advocates have called the actions in the video “reckless,” and point to an underfunded mental health system that is riddled with failures.

The case has yet to be heard in court and none of the claims have been proven.

-With files from Kelvin Gawley, Jonathan Szekeres, and Kathryn Tindale