Woman at centre of police review board hearing gets suspended sentence for resisting arrest

A 36-year-old Cole Harbour woman was handed a suspended sentence and a year’s probation in Dartmouth provincial court Monday for resisting arrest in an April 2021 incident.

Susan Doman is prohibited from having any contact with her former boyfriend and another woman and must take part in any assessment, counselling or programming deemed necessary by her probation officer.

A charge of assaulting a Halifax Regional Police officer was dismissed.

Five other charges from the incident – property mischief and four counts of breaching release conditions – were dismissed after Doman agreed to enter into a one-year peace bond. 

The court order requires Doman to keep the peace and be of good behaviour, not to be within 25 metres of her ex-boyfriend’s home or workplace and have no contact with him or the woman. 

The arrest in the early morning hours of April 28, 2021, at an Amstrong Court apartment in the Kearney Lake area of Halifax was the subject of a complaint by Doman against the Halifax police for using excessive force and an ensuing Nova Scotia Police Review Board hearing.

Doman’s complaint alleged that Const. Jason Wilson, one of six officers involved in the arrest, had grabbed her by the throat with both hands and threw her to the floor of the apartment kitchen.

An internal Halifax police disciplinary hearing initially eventuated in Wilson being suspended for 40 hours and ordered to take use of force training.

Wilson appealed and before the current police review board hearing opened last November, the Halifax police decision against the constable was reversed.

Hearing chairwoman Jean McKenna, Simon J. MacDonald and Nadine Bernard heard testimony related to Wilson’s appeal in late August, concluding hearing testimony that was paused after three days last November because of the death of Wilson’s initial lawyer, David Bright. 

Wilson testified that he did not throw Doman to the floor and testimony from both Wilson and Const. Hannah Burridge pointed to Doman trying to spit on both officers during the course of the arrest. 

Doman denied spitting at or on anyone.

“I’m happy it’s over,” she said outside the hearing room after the final day of testimony. “There is something very wrong happened to me and that was the whole point. I was injured, my voice has never been the same. I was not in a good place for sure mentally but I am definitely not the kind of person that spits and I am not the kind of person that fights with police officers.” 

Brian Bailey, the lawyer representing Wilson, and Doman, who represented herself at the board hearing, are to submit closing arguments to the board in writing by Sept. 22 and Oct. 6, respectively, and Bailey must respond to Doman’s arguments by Oct. 13.

The board will later deliver a written decision.

Before the board hearing began last fall, Doman had filed a statement of claim in Nova Scotia Supreme Court alleging Wilson had put his hands around her throat, picked her up and threw her to the floor. 

She is seeking general damages, including aggravated damages for personal injuries and other special damages.