Hamilton cop receives suspended sentence, probation for assault of Indigenous man

Police officer Brian Wren has been given a suspended sentence along with 18-months probation in a Hamilton court Thursday.

The decision came one month after the prosecution and defence recommended the suspended sentence along with an 18-month probation.

The Hamilton officer was originally charged with assault in connection with the violent arrest of Patrick Tomchuk, an Indigenous man, at a gas station last spring.

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The arrest occurred on May 26, 2022 when police were investigating a stolen vehicle at a gas station on Upper Sherman Ave. Tomchuk can be seen in witness video unresponsive as an officer in plain clothes stomped on his head.

Wren was then suspended and charged with assault to which he pled guilty to in February.

In an impact statement made earlier in court this month, the National Vice-Chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples called the incident a “reminder of how little reconciliation has changed”.

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