Former Langley Mountie fined $2,500 for second assault

A former RCMP officer has been fined $2,500 after being convicted of assaulting a prisoner who was being booked into the Langley detachment.

Damian Volk was found guilty of two different assaults in two separate trials. He was given his second sentence on Wednesday, Oct. 14, in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, by Justice Terence Schultes.

Volk was convicted last year of assaulting Jason Petrus, who had been arrested in the early morning hours of July 1, 2020, for public intoxication.

Then a staff sergeant, Volk took over from the arresting officer when Petrus arrived at the detachment, marched him to a cell, and gave what Schultes described in his verdict as “a thorough thrashing.”

Petrus was thrown onto the floor, his arms were bent behind his back, and he was stripped. On his way out of the cell, Volk delivered a backwards kick to Petrus’s head with the heel of his boot.

There was no evidence that Petrus suffered significant injuries from the incident.

After his two convictions, Volk left the RCMP.

During sentencing arguments, Crown prosecutors had called for a three-month prison sentence for Volk, while his defence lawyers asked for a conditional discharge and 18 to 24 months of probation, which would have allowed Volk to avoid a criminal record.

Volk will have a criminal record, however, after the results of his other trial.

In that similar case, Volk was also found guilty of assaulting a prisoner being booked into the Langley RCMP detachment’s cells.

Justice John Gibb-Carsley gave Volk a 45-day conditional sentence – one served in the community – in a hearing in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster on Oct. 2.

That means Volk will be under a curfew at home, but will not have to go to prison.