A Kelowna RCMP officer has been charged with assault two years after the incident.

Const. Russell Reeder was charged with one count of assault today, Sept. 4, according to a press release from the BC Prosecution Service.

The incident happened on Aug. 18, 2023, but the Crown didn’t disclose any details about the case.

Const. Russell was also accused of an injuring a paralyzed man who was arrested during a traffic stop. The Independent Investigations Office cleared the police of any wrongdoing in that case since the man’s injuries didn’t count as “serious harm.”

Kelowna RCMP were called about the driver of a red Ford F-150 pickup on Aug. 14, 2022 who was slurring his words and blocking traffic in an alley on Aug. 14, 2022, according to a press release from the Independent Investigations Office of BC.

Shortly before 10 p.m. that same night, police found the same truck near a fruit stand in the 3000-block of Benvoulin Road. Officers tried to arrest the driver who injured an officer when he attempted to drive away.

“The driver, who is paralyzed, was eventually taken into custody, with what police at the time believed to be minor injuries suffered during the arrest,” the IIO release read.

In August this year, the driver of the truck, Steven Margetts, filed a lawsuit against the Kelowna RCMP that mentions Reeder claiming that he was tasered seriously injured during the arrest.