Deler Bal has pleaded not guilty to two counts of assault and one count of aggravated assault over a fistfight with a man in a Centretown gastropub on Sept. 23, 2023.
Windsor police Sgt. Deler Bal testified in his own defence at his assault trial Wednesday and presented an entirely different version of the 2023 bar fight between the off-duty officer and a patron at the Prohibition Public House in Ottawa.
Bal has pleaded not guilty to two counts of assault and one count of aggravated assault after engaging in a fistfight with a local man, Donald Conner, in the men’s bathroom at the Centretown gastropub on Sept. 23, 2023.
Conner spent two days testifying at Bal’s trial earlier this week and told the judge he was attacked inside the bathroom following a brief exchange of words after Bal had burst into his stall while Conner was sitting on the toilet.
Under cross-examination from Bal’s defence lawyer, Mark Ertel, Conner denied accusations that he had downplayed his own role in the altercation and denied Ertel’s suggestion that Conner was the aggressor.
Bal was called to testify in his own defence Wednesday and said he still had marks on his back from being “slammed up against the wall” during the fight.
He gave a contrasting version of the fight and how it started in the bathroom before it spilled out into the pub’s hallway, where the ending was captured by a security camera.
There were no eyewitnesses inside the men’s bathroom at the time.
Bal said he was in town with 18 members of the Windsor Police Service honour guard, along with two of his superior officers and the deputy chief.
The officers were in Ottawa for the Canadian Police and Peace Officers’ National Memorial Day, which took place the next day to commemorate officers killed in the line of duty.
Evening Update
The group was dining and having drinks at the Centretown gastropub on that Saturday night and had reserved the second-floor dining room.
Bal said he had a “very abnormal interaction” after he opened the bathroom stall and discovered a man he didn’t know, Conner, was already inside and sitting on the toilet.
Bal apologized to the man and headed to one of two urinals next to the stall. He was talking on his cell phone at the time with a colleague he knew from the RCMP.
Bal was in an “active conversation” when he heard Conner speaking to him from behind, ended the call and put his phone in his back pocket as he turned around.
Conner was standing two feet away from him and became “agitated,” Bal testified.
Bal said the man asked him why he opened the stall door and Bal replied, “Let it go, it was a mistake … Why don’t you lock it next time?”
Conner then insisted that Bal check the stall himself to see that the lock was broken, which Bal declined, according to the officer’s testimony.
Bal told Conner, “You need to leave now,” he testified.
“That’s when (Conner) becomes frustrated, insistent, steps into my space … right in my face,” Bal testified. “I’m anticipating we’re going to have a confrontation.”
Bal said he pushed the man away with both hands on Conner’s chest.
Conner was 45 at the time, stood about six feet tall and weighed 235 pounds, according to his testimony. Bal, who is now 51, was two inches shorter than his combatant and weighed about 170 pounds.
As Conner moved backwards, Bal said, he grabbed onto the officer’s white hoodie and “locked on” to the neckline. Bal said he delivered two punches to Conner’s face with his right hand in an attempt to break Conner’s grip.
“He didn’t loosen his grip, he regained his balance and pulled the hoodie completely over my head,” Bal said.
Conner had testified on Tuesday that he used the “hockey move,” which he learned from watching fights in National Hockey League games, in an attempt to stop Bal from punching him.
“It was completely unexpected. I didn’t know how to deal with that … I was very scared,” Bal testified.
“He lifted me right off my feet and slammed me against the wall. I was in pain. It was a violent action,” the officer testified.
Bal’s back hit the light switch and the bathroom was suddenly “pitch dark,” he said, with the hoodie still pulled over his face.
“He slams me up against another wall, I lose my footing and he takes me to the ground,” Bal testified. “He has a hand around my neck and he’s choking me.”
Bal’s defence lawyer accused Conner of intentionally leaving out crucial details of the fight when he spoke with police after the altercation in 2023 and again during his initial testimony on the opening day of trial on Jan. 20.
“You’re painting a picture that’s not accurate. You’re leaving yourself out of the picture as if you did nothing in this altercation,” Ertel told Conner.
“Sir, I know I did nothing in this altercation,” Conner replied.
“When you came out of the bathroom stall, you were the one who was angry. You were angry that somebody had pushed their way into the stall,” Ertel told Conner.
“You picked (Bal) up by the front of his shirt, slammed him against the wall, you had his hoodie over his face, you had him on the ground and while you had him on the ground you were holding him by the neck as you opened the door to get out of the bathroom,” Ertel alleged.
“That is incorrect,” Conner replied.
Bal was confronted with video evidence by Crown prosecutor Hart Shouldice, who said Conner was not seen throwing any punches as the fight spilled into the hallway.
Conner appeared to be “cowering” in a defensive posture, Shouldice said, as Bal is seen connecting with two more punches to the man’s face.
Bal acknowledged he was the one who made the first physical contact with Conner inside the bathroom and Bal admitted he threw the first punches.
“(Conner’s) fists aren’t raised, he’s not making any physical contact, he’s not using any fighting words,” Shouldice said. “The most egregious thing he’s done to you at that point was step towards you.”
Bal said that, once Conner grabbed his hoodie, Bal “wanted to punch him as hard as I could to break free of his grasp.”
The prosecutor countered by saying the hallway video showed Bal as the aggressor and was “not at all consistent with you trying to break free of his grasp.”
Shouldice highlighted Bal’s role as a use-of-force instructor with the Windsor Police Service and asked whether the officer thought to employ any de-escalation tactics that night before resorting to violence.
Bal was first hired by the Ontario Provincial Police in 2004. He resigned in 2012 to work in the private sector before returning to police work in Windsor, where he was promoted to platoon sergeant in 2022. He was the sergeant in charge of Windsor’s honour guard at the ceremony the following morning on Sept. 24, 2023.
After he returned to Windsor, Bal had photos taken of the marks on his back and of his hands to show there were no bruises or markings left by the punches.
Conner also had photos taken of his injuries, which included bruising and swelling to his face. He had a fracture in his orbital bone.
“Your injuries are consistent with two men grappling in a small space,” Shouldice told Bal. “Mr. Conner’s injuries are consistent with him getting punched hard in the face.”
The five-day trial continues this week with Ontario Court Justice Juliana Martel presiding.
