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![\"MIKAELA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4335073_web1_260521-LERA-hearing-00098.jpg\")
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MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
Michael Filbert, 69, has asked for a judicial review of the decision to toss out his complaint against two police officers he says illegally searched his room at a Winnipeg group home.<\/p>\n
Lawyer Paul McKenna said there is insufficient evidence to prove police abused their authority when they entered Filbert\u2019s room. He argued they were not searching for evidence of a crime, but rather trying to resolve the issue swiftly and without pressing charges.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very small intrusion to find one phone in a pocket and give it back, (get) out the door and it\u2019s over. There\u2019s no arrest, no detention and no criminal record,\u201d McKenna said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would have the officers do what\u2019s most pragmatic, what causes the least harm, which causes the least undue involvement in the legal system.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the officers\u2019 version of events, which McKenna detailed briefly in court, they were called to the group home after a staff member phoned police and alleged Filbert was threatening and defiant when asked to return the phone.<\/p>\n
When they arrived at the group home, they asked a staff member to call the missing phone, which began ringing inside Filbert\u2019s room. The officers said they gave him an opportunity to retrieve it himself, but he declined to do so.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when one of the officers entered the room and located the phone inside the pocket of a coat hanging in Filbert\u2019s closet. The other officer, meanwhile, unholstered his Taser but did not point it at Filbert, according to their statements.<\/p>\n
Filbert\u2019s account of the incident varies from that of the officers. He said they tore through his belongings without his consent, violating his Charter rights against unreasonable search and seizure.<\/p>\n
Filbert said he was frustrated by the encounter and tried to leave the room to smoke a cigarette. He said an officer then took out his Taser.<\/p>\n
Any perceived aggression on Filbert\u2019s part was likely the result of a misunderstanding of the man\u2019s cognitive disabilities and his hearing impairment, which causes him to speak loudly and in short sentences, his lawyer Brandon Trask argued.<\/p>\n
Trask said the officers should have secured a search warrant before entering Filbert\u2019s room.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis, in our view, begs the question of would this have happened in a different setting? Would this have happened at a mansion on Wellington Crescent with people not living with disabilities? And I think the answer is clearly no,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis case \u2026 goes to the very heart of disability rights intersecting with the issue of police accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Provincial court Judge Keith Eyrikson has been tapped to lead a judicial review into LERA commissioner Harmen Wouda\u2019s decision to dismiss Filbert\u2019s complaint in September.<\/p>\n
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Eyrikson\u2019s role is not to decide whether Wouda made the right call, but rather to determine whether he was reasonable in his conclusion.<\/p>\n
If the judge determines the decision was not reasonable, the case could move to an appeal, at which point there could be a hearing with testimony from Filbert, the officers and witnesses.<\/p>\n
The judge could also direct LERA to take a second look at the case and seek alternative resolutions.<\/p>\n
Eyrikson said he hopes to render a decision as soon as possible. A court appearance is slated for late next month.<\/p>\n
tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n
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Tyler Searle Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press\u2019s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic\u2019s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022.\u00a0Read more about Tyler<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber<\/a>.<\/p>\n Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.<\/p>\n \t\t
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