Halifax police lay charges in Ryan Michael Sawyer’s homicide
Sawyer’s death on the morning of Christmas Eve—and the subsequent lack of arrests stemming from his killing—prompted months of headlines across Halifax. As The Coast reported in February, Sawyer left his parents’ suburban home that evening for a dinner with family and friends, then went to watch Canada play Finland in a World Junior pre-tournament friendly. He would never make it home.
Three hours after the game ended, Halifax Regional Police found Sawyer “unresponsive” on the sidewalk outside the Halifax Alehouse. First responders brought the Ajax, Ont. native to the QEII hospital, where he was pronounced dead on Christmas Eve morning. Within days, the Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service would rule his death a homicide.
Details were scarce in the days and weeks after Sawyer’s death. Photos from the night of the incident showed Halifax police on the Halifax Alehouse’s upper floor. Numerous online accounts at the time indicated the incident involved an Alehouse bouncer. The Coast has reached out to the Alehouse numerous times since December; neither the pub’s ownership nor its management have provided a comment.
Submitted
A photo provided to The Coast from the night of the incident shows police on the upper floor of the Halifax Alehouse.
Halifax police initially took one man into custody on Dec. 24, HRP spokesperson Const. John MacLeod confirmed to The Coast. That suspect was released the same day without charges. It isn’t clear whether Levy was that suspect.
Levy appeared in Halifax provincial court today to face the aforementioned charges. The Coast will have more as the story develops.
Second court case for Levy
These aren’t the first charges linked to Levy stemming from his job as a bouncer at the Halifax Alehouse. The 37-year-old is also currently facing assault charges, along with another Alehouse bouncer, after allegedly attacking a patron on Oct. 10, 2022.
Those claims against Levy and Matthew Brenton Day stem from an early-morning incident at the Alehouse on that October day. Halifax Regional Police told The Coast that officers arrived at the Alehouse that morning shortly after 2:35am, following a call about an “unwanted person” at 5287 Prince Street. When the HRP arrived, police say Alehouse staff were restraining a man on the sidewalk. That man, Alehouse staffers allege, had been damaging property inside the bar. But that story varies significantly from what the man who was being restrained remembers.
As CBC News first reported in February, a 21-year-old Halifax man claims he was ordering a beer at the Alehouse on Oct. 10 when a bouncer tapped his shoulder and told him to leave. He says he wasn’t offered any further explanation. The man—whose identity The Coast has reviewed, but is not disclosing due to the event’s sensitive nature—claims that once he was escorted outside onto the Prince Street sidewalk, the Alehouse’s bouncers taunted him, before one bouncer punched him on the side of the head. He claims that he was held in a chokehold, punched in the face and stomped on by several of the bouncers. He further alleges that the incident left him with a concussion; he says he couldn’t walk for days.
The Coast has reached out to the Alehouse’s ownership and management for a response on numerous occasions. We have yet to receive a reply.
Levy and Day’s assault trial is scheduled to resume in 2024. Charges against the two have not been proven in court.
Sawyer remembered as “big hearted soul”
dignitymemorial.com
Ryan Michael Sawyer, 31, was killed on Dec. 24, 2022. His death has been ruled a homicide.
Those who knew Sawyer, 31, describe him as a “wonderful young man” and a “big hearted soul.” Friend and former coach John Cole remembers him as a “great athlete and even better person,” with an “infectious smile and a love for life.” Sawyer played hockey from childhood through his teen years. He spent his earliest years in Markham and Pickering, Ont., before relocating to Windsor, NS, for high school. He graduated from the private King’s-Edgehill School and went on to study business management at Dalhousie University.
Sawyer is survived by his parents, Scott and Lee, and his twin brother, Kyle. At the time of his death, he was working as a vehicle planning supervisor for Nissan Canada in Mississauga, Ontario.
A memorial service for Sawyer drew a packed room at Halifax’s JA Snow Funeral Home on Jan. 6. Friends, family members, former classmates and hockey teammates flew in from across the country to grieve. Sawyer’s father, Scott, delivered a eulogy where he spoke of Ryan’s love for his family, Marvel movies and his enduring Leafs fandom.
“When this happened, we lost our faith in humanity,” he told those gathered on Friday. “But what has pulled us through is you.”
Delivered the morning after Canada’s 3-2 World Juniors gold medal win over Czechia, Scott opened his eulogy by bringing out a Team Canada hockey sweater and encouraging those gathered to smile. “Ryan would’ve loved this,” he said.
