A former Halifax regional police officer was sentenced on Monday to 30 days in prison for breaking the nose of a homeless man with a blow to the face in 2018.
“It’s been a long four years and, you know, it’s changed my life drastically, not just for the last four years, but for the future. I lost the career I lived for, “Lawrence Gary Basso, 38, told Judge Paul Scoville before receiving his sentence.
This is the second time the former police officer has been convicted of assaulting Patrice Simard.
In 2019, Basso received a four-month sentence for the same attack, but the sentence was overturned due to errors by the judge in interpreting the evidence.
During Monday’s sentencing hearing in a Halifax provincial court, Basso’s lawyer, James Giacomantonio, called for a suspended sentence plus probation, which he said was in line with similar cases where police attacked people in custody.
In a frame of surveillance footage, the police officer from Halifax Const. Lawrence Gary Basso was seen hitting Patrice Simard in front of the Metro Turning Point Shelter in February 2018 (CBC)
Giacomantonio said his client had been “humiliated” by four years of news of the attack and had lost his police career after being fired by Halifax forces.
Giacomantonio said Basso’s prison would be “unnecessary and gratuitous.”
Crown prosecutor Peter Dostal demanded a sentence of three to four months in prison plus probation for the “extraordinary circumstances” of a police officer who abused his credibility with a serious assault.
Hit the video
Basso met Simard in front of the Metro Turning Point shelter in Halifax on February 25, 2018. Simard, who was homeless, was expelled from the shelter for drinking alcohol in his bed.
The security video shows Simard kneeling in the snow in front of Basso. After a brief battle over Simard’s backpack, Basso punched Simard in the face. Simard falls sideways to the ground.
Basso claims that Simard hit him in the leg first before he responded. Scoville ruled that he had convicted Basso earlier this year that if Simard made contact with Basso’s feet, it was not a blow.
Simard testified in the first trial against Basso, but died before appearing for a second time. His initial testimony was included as evidence in the second trial.
Scoville called the strike a “hay mower” when he convicted Basso on February 28 this year.
“It is a matter of great concern that drunken homeless people who want to be detained in police cells on a frosty snowy night have broken his nose after interacting with the accused,” Scoville said on Monday. “We expect more from our police.”
Probation is not required
Scoville said previous cases had ended in a wide range of sentences, from suspended sentences to imprisonment. He said it was a difficult decision, but the police attack on a vulnerable person was serious enough to require time in custody.
Basso, led by Scoville, could serve his 30-day sentence over the weekend in Cape Breton between 8 a.m. Friday and 6 a.m. Monday.
As Basso’s report before the sentencing was unusually positive, Scoville said probation would not make sense.
Basso is subject to a 10-year arms ban and his DNA profile will be cataloged by police.
The court heard that Basso lives with his wife in Cape Breton, where he runs his own landscaping business.
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