Murder trial begins, manslaughter plea rejected, in Calgary police officer’s death

A man accused in the hit-and-run death of a Calgary police officer has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder but offered a guilty plea to manslaughter.

The man, who cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, is alleged to have been driving an SUV when Sgt. Andrew Harnett pulled over the vehicle on Dec. 31, 2020.

Police have said the 37-year-old officer was dragged before he fell away from the SUV and was hit by another car.

The alleged driver, who was 17 when he was charged, turned 19 earlier this month. The Crown rejected his manslaughter plea.

Prosecutor Mike Ewenson told the judge-alone trial that the Crown intends to pursue the charge of first-degree murder.

In his opening statement on Monday, Ewenson said there is no doubt about what happened, and that Harnett acted professionally when he pulled over the SUV.

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“In this day and age when the actions of police are subject to increased scrutiny, you will witness an encounter between Sgt. Harnett and the young person, which until the moment that Sgt. Harnett’s life was truly at risk, there is no profanity used, no raised voices, no use of force, no insult, no abuse of power or misuse of authority.”

Ewenson said it should have been a routine traffic stop.

“The young person was only going to be given a couple of traffic tickets. That was it. A few hundred dollars.”

He said Harnett activated his body cam and the court will see that the accused was so determined to flee that he dragged the officer for nearly a half kilometre.

“The young person engaged in these actions with Sgt. Harnett hanging on to his vehicle on the driver’s side door, mere feet from the young person, yelling for the young person to stop. But the young person did not stop. He did the opposite.”

Defence lawyer Bob Aloneissi told court the facts are not in dispute.

“I think that it’s important to recognize that reasonable people can look at an incident and see things differently and agree to disagree,” he said.

“The real question is going to be: what does this all mean legally? And evidenced by the guilty plea that was tendered earlier, the dispute is really going to be the characterization of this in law.”

A passenger in the SUV, 20-year-old Amir Abdulrahmen, pleaded guilty last month to a lesser charge of manslaughter. He was sentenced Friday to five years in prison.