A Manitoba judge has dismissed a complaint filed by a man who alleged Winnipeg police mocked him and his girlfriend while responding to a domestic dispute.

The Law Enforcement Review Agency (LERA)’s online portal shows the police misconduct complaint — the most recent to reach a public hearing in Manitoba – was dismissed in Jan. 20.

The complaint was filed in 2022, following an incident on April 9 that year.

Provincial court Justice Julie Frederickson presided over a hearing on the matter Dec. 8, 2025. Josh Weinstein, who represented the officers named in the complaint, said the hearing concluded with “a clear finding” that police committed no wrongdoing.

“We respect the process and are pleased that the evidence vindicated the officers involved,” Weinstein said in an email Thursday.

The complaint filed by Winnipeg resident Kyle Sward initially named four officers, although claims against two of them were dismissed early on during the December hearing.

CBC News can’t name the officers because of a provision in the LERA legislation that blocks publishing that information unless police are found to have committed a disciplinary default.

At first, Sward had also accused officers of using excessive force when they arrested him, but that allegation was dropped after the man was found guilty of resisting arrest and of three counts of uttering threats.

CBC News reached out to Sward, but he did not respond. Sam Green, the lawyer who represented him, declined to comment.

The complaint against the officers was the first since 2022 to get to a public hearing through the independent agency that reviews police misconduct.

To get there, LERA’s commissioner must determine a complaint is justified and within the agency’s legal scope. A judge can also order a hearing if a complainant can prove the commissioner was wrong in declining to take further action.

Between 2021 and 2024, LERA received 335 formal complaints, but only one hearing was held in front of a judge, according to the agency’s last annual report.

The vast majority — 246, or about 72 per cent — of the 340 complaints disposed of during that period were dismissed by the commissioner.

Nearly 26 per cent of the complaints, 88 in total, were withdrawn or abandoned by the complainant.

Numbers discouraging, lawyer says

Jean-René Dominique Kwilu said one of the reasons LERA hearings are rare is that most laymen who try to pursue a complaint through the independent body do not understand the legal language and thresholds they need to meet to be successful.

He said the success rate is discouraging for some of his clients, who often “give up” proceeding with a complaint once they look at the statistics, despite having a legitimate case to make.

“The commissioner decision [is] very discretionary, and that leaves room for any type of bias we might have, in terms of leaning towards more believing police officers,” Kwilu said.

“Absent really clear … picture or video or you having an eyewitness, it’s really complicated.”

The lawyer said that even when a complaint does get to a public hearing, a judge doesn’t rule on whether an officer’s decision was correct, but whether it was reasonable.

“That’s a high legal standard to me,” he said. “It’s next to impossible for a civilian to be successful.”

Kwilu said he would like to see faster investigations and expanding legal aid for complainants, including potentially setting up an independent office that would file complaints and gather evidence on their behalf.