[S.I.S.I.S. note: The following mainstream news article may contain biased or distorted information and may be missing pertinent facts and/or context.
The officer referred to in this article, Cpl. Callander, was an ERT member of the paramilitary operation of RCMP and the Canadian Army in the Gustafsen Lake siege. In the Gustafsen trial, the judge also ruled - after the guilty verdicts had already been delivered - that RCMP had used excessive force when one of their snipers shot long-distance at an unarmed person in a "no-shoot zone" on Sept. 12, 1995. However, he found that police use of airplanes, helicopters, armoured personnel carriers, a land mine, M16 and C7 assault rifles, .50 calibre machine guns and 77,000 rounds of ammunition was not excessive. Note that unlike the defendant described in this article, none of the defendants in the Gustafsen case obtained discharges on the basis of excessive force.]

A Provincial Court judge in Williams Lake dismissed an assault charge against a prisoner yesterday, saying an RCMP officer used excessive force against the man. The incident occurred Monday when Cpl. Mel Callander was escorting Malcolm Stewart Miller to a cell. Mr. Miller refused to go in and there was an altercation in which the officer was spat at, the prisoner was forced inside and his entire cell was pepper-sprayed. Judge Jacob de Villiers said Cpl. Callander acted unprofessionally and not in accordance with the high standards of the RCMP. Mr. Miller was given an absolute discharge.