Judge dismisses complaint about Law Enforcement Review Agency decision

A judge has sided with the Law Enforcement Review Agency in tossing out a complaint from a man who alleged police officers illegally searched his room and pointed a stun gun at him.

Michael Filbert escalated his complaint in provincial court after the agency’s commissioner recommended no further action be taken into the investigation.

In a Nov. 4 decision, Judge Keith Eyrickson said the agency’s commissioner analyzed the case’s evidence “properly and carefully.”

“The conclusion reached was one which is within the range of acceptable outcomes that were available to him on on the evidence before the agency, based on an assessment of the transparency, justification and intelligibility of this decision,” Eyrickson’s decision states.

Filbert filed a complaint with the agency in 2025 after an interaction with police at the group home he lives in.

According to the complaint, Filbert was suffering from chest pain on April 29, 2025, and feared he might be at risk of a heart attack. He learned group home staff were to consult with their superiors before phoning 911.

The 69-year-old, who has cognitive and physical disabilities, responded by taking one of the group home’s cellphones into his room so he could call for help on his own, if required.

Staff called police and alleged Filbert was aggressive and defiant when asked to return the phone. Officers turned up at his door a short time later.

Filbert alleged the officers entered his room and began tearing through his belongings without his consent as they searched for the phone. Filbert said he was frustrated by the encounter and tried to leave the room to smoke a cigarette. That’s when one of the officers pulled out the stun gun, he said.

The officers denied ransacking Filbert’s room and one claimed he pulled out the weapon only when Filbert approached one of the officers aggressively.

“The officer put his arm out to create distance between the two of them. The other officer took his Taser out and put it at the ready position beside his waist. The officers maintain it was never pointed at (Filbert),” the decision states.

LERA commissioner Harmen Wouda concluded the officers’ accounts of the interaction were consistent, and did not line up with Filbert’s allegations. The complaint was dismissed in September 2025.

Filbert’s lawyer Brandon Trask took the matter to court and argued the police breached his client’s Charter rights by entering his room without authorization. He also said the manner in which the officer pointed the stun gun was inappropriate and comments officers made to Filbert during the interaction were offensive.

In his LERA complaint, Filbert alleged an officer told him to “act like an adult” during the interaction. The officers later acknowledged using words to the effect that they should “talk about this like adults.”

In the court application, Trask said the commissioner’s conclusion was not reasonable and a public hearing should be ordered. Alternatively, he asked the decision be sent back to the commissioner for further investigation.

Eyrickson said while the commissioner could have gone into greater detail about why the evidence was insufficient for the complaint to proceed, he “properly and reasonably analyzed the evidence before him.”

Trask said he and his client are considering their legal options moving forward, including a judicial review.

“We are hopeful that what was a very negative interaction with police will ultimately lead to vital public discourse and improvements in the areas of disability rights and police accountability,” Trask said in an email.

nicole.buffie@winnipegfreepress.com