Donald Conner said he was struck in the face repeatedly by a “flurry” of punches from Sgt. Deler Bal in 2023.
An Ottawa man said he was struck in the face repeatedly by a “flurry” of punches from off-duty Windsor, Ont. police officer Sgt. Deler Bal in a fight that started in the men’s room of a Centretown pub in 2023.
Security video from inside the Prohibition Public House on Somerset Street shows the moments before the fight as the two men are seen entering the bathroom about 14 seconds apart around 8:47 p.m. on Sept. 23, 2023.
The same video shows the two men lumbering out of the bathroom minutes later and into the hallway, where Bal can be seen throwing several punches as the other combatant appears to be taking a defensive stance.
The video does not capture the initial moments of the scuffle, which started as a verbal altercation between the two men inside the bathroom.
Bal, who is represented by Ottawa criminal defence lawyer Mark Ertel, pleaded not guilty to assault and assault causing bodily harm at the opening of his trial on Monday.
Crown attorney Hart Shouldice filed the video evidence, along with medical records and photos of the facial injuries to Donald Conner, who testified that he did not fight back.
Photos taken at the time of Conner’s hands, which showed no visible sign of bruising, were also entered into evidence on the first day of Bal’s trial.
According to his testimony, Conner showed up at the pub that night to meet his girlfriend and her sister. They were already seated at the bar and having drinks when Conner arrived from the golf course.
He immediately had to go to the bathroom, he testified, and was inside the bathroom’s only stall when Bal entered. The bathroom stall had a faulty lock, and Conner said he was trying to hold the door closed when Bal burst in.
Evening Update
“You should learn how to lock the door,” Bal scolded him, according to Conner’s testimony.
Conner testified he exited the stall, washed his hands and started using the “very loud” hand-dryer. Bal was at one of the two urinals at that time and was speaking on a cell phone.
Both urinals were in use when Conner first entered the bathroom, but no eyewitnesses remained there when the fight started.
“I gotta go, somebody’s trying to f— with my call,” Bal said, according to Conner’s testimony.
Conner said Bal ended his call, turned toward him and said, “Oh, you’re the guy who doesn’t know how to lock a door.”
He said he called the man “Dude” and explained that the lock was broken, but testified he had no other reaction. Bal then pointed to the doorway and said, “You can leave now.”
Conner said he “squinted” his eyes in that “moment of confusion” when Bal suddenly struck him with “a flurry of right-hand punches to the head and face.”
The fight continued for a minute or two inside the bathroom, according to Conner.
“It happened very quickly,” Conner testified. “It just started, very fast, very furious.”
At one point, Conner pushed Bal up against the wall, where his back brushed the light switch, plunging the bathroom into “pitch black” darkness. Conner said he continued to receive punches to the head, with “lightning” flashes going off in his eyes with every blow.
Conner testified he tried to grab at Bal’s elbows to block the punches and Bal briefly slipped to the floor.
Conner was left holding Bal’s white hoodie, which could be seen in Conner’s hand as the two men staggered out of the bathroom and into the hallway.
The fight ended when one of Bal’s friends entered through a doorway and stepped between the two men. Conner said he walked downstairs with one of the staff members and quickly left the bar.
His girlfriend and the woman’s sister also testified at the trial and said Conner appeared to be “in shock” when he came back from the bathroom and he had obvious signs of bruising and swelling to his face.
He went to the hospital, and then went to the Elgin Street police station to report the alleged assault.
According to his hospital record, which was filed as evidence on Jan. 20, Conner suffered a fractured orbital bone around his sinus wall.
Photos taken at the hospital showed a laceration and swelling to Conner’s cheek. Police later took photos of his hands to depict the absence of bruising.
During cross-examination, Bal’s defence lawyer suggested an alternate sequence of events.
Ertel suggested Conner spoke to Bal at the urinal and that the person on the other end of the phone call “overheard someone say something” to Bal.
Ertel suggested it was Conner who grabbed Bal’s white sweater by the hood and pulled it over his face to “disorient” Bal, to block his field of vision and to “gain control over him.”
Ertel also suggested Conner had placed one of his hands around Bal’s neck.
Conner repeatedly denied grabbing Bal’s neck, or that he said any words or made any motions as the aggressor.
Conner was 45 years old at the time, stood about six-feet tall and weighed around 235 pounds. Bal was shorter and weighed about 170 pounds.
Ertel challenged Conner on his recollection of the fight and suggested his memory may have since been affected by the trauma he suffered and by the passage of time.
Conner said he didn’t know who Bal was and had no idea at the time that he was an off-duty police officer from Windsor. He learned that information from an Ottawa police detective shortly after arriving at the station to have his photos taken.
Ertel told the court that Bal left his business card with the bar manager after the fight had ended.
Ertel also pointed out inconsistencies between his testimony and the audio statement he gave to police following the incident.
Ertel suggested some of his wording was “radically different,” while Conner insisted he was trying to answer the lawyer’s questions to the best of his recollection.
The trial is scheduled for five days with Ontario Court Justice Juliana Martel presiding.
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