Doctor says Kamloops man who was arrested violently in 2010 will have pain for life

Photo: Castanet Staff

A Kamloops man who hasn’t worked since he was violently arrested by police in 2010 outside a Brocklehurst school will likely be in pain for the rest of his life, according to the chronic pain doctor who has been treating him for nine years.

Mike McLellan is suing two police officers and the RCMP for injuries he claims to have suffered during a Feb. 11, 2010, arrest outside Twin Rivers Education Centre on Holt Street. His civil trial is ongoing in B.C. Supreme Court in Kamloops.

McLellan was working as a youth worker in 2010 and was at the school because one of his clients, a student at TREC, was in trouble for allegedly possessing a knife and threatening a teacher.

McLellan said officers arriving at the scene pointed guns at him and ordered him to the ground in the parking lot. He said he crawled on his belly toward police, as ordered, when a Mountie jumped on his back and handcuffed him.

Court has heard McLellan suffered physical and emotional injuries during the arrest and has been largely unable to work in the years since.

In court on Thursday, Kelowna-based chronic pain physician Dr. John-Paul Etheridge, who began treating McLellan in 2012, said it’s unlikely he will see much improvement in terms of pain in the future.

Etheridge said McLellan has undergone platelet-rich plasma injections and multiple rhizotomies — procedures in which doctors sever nerve roots to lessen pain. McLellan’s most recent rhizotomy was in March.

“Will these be treatments for Mr. McLellan for the rest of his life?” Karen Schymon-Martin, McLellan’s lawyer, asked Etheridge.

“I would expect some form or another of these treatments would be reasonable, yes,” Etheridge replied.

During cross-examination from David Bilkey, representing the defendants, Etheridge was asked whether there is hope for McLellan’s future from a pain perspective.

“It’ll probably go up and down,” the doctor replied.

“Whether there’s going to be a lot more improvement, I doubt that very much. I think a good exercise routine and the appropriate treatments will give him the best chance at moderate improvement, but not a whole lot more than what he’s had now.”

McLellan’s lawsuit names RCMP constables Evan Elgee and Carla Peters as defendants, as well as the national police force and the provincial and federal governments.

Peters is expected to testify on Friday, while Elgee is slated to take the stand early next week.

Also expected to testify are Kamloops RCMP Const. Stephen Zaharia, former TREC principal Sean Lamoureux and an expert in police use of force, among others.

In a brief opening statement on Thursday, Bilkey said the defendants dispute liability and damages.

Though it wasn't public knowledge until recently, McLellan's arrest took place at a time when the Kamloops RCMP detachment was routinely finding itself in problematic situations.

Elgee and Zaharia were both charged in connection with a well-documented incident in 2010 in which a number of Kamloops Mounties and jail guards watched two drunk women engage in sex acts in a jail cell — one of whom was arrested by Peters.

Charges against Elgee and Zaharia were later stayed. They both testified at the trial of Cpl. Rick Brown, who was ultimately acquitted on one count of breach of trust.

During Brown’s trial, court heard the Kamloops RCMP detachment was a dysfunctional place in 2010.

The trial is expected to conclude next week.