Krupa, in his early 20s with no criminal record, had just had supper with his mother in the east end, and now there was this man yelling at him at the intersection of Woodroffe and Baseline Avenues.
Krupa, a fire alarm technician, was driving his teenaged brother home in his Subaru Impreza.
When he saw the man yelling his brother rolled down the window to hear what was going on.
Krupa told the Citizen that the man was screaming at him about speeding on the Queensway earlier and he also heard him say something about him being a police officer — although he was in plain clothes and didn’t show a badge.
Krupa alleges that the man, Ottawa Police Const. Kevin Jacobs, said something about driving “Daddy’s car,” to which Krupa made a disparaging remark about the car that was being driven by Jacobs.
Krupa drove away from the confrontation and headed south when the light turned green and started driving home only to spot Jacobs tailing him.
Krupa told the Citizen that he was fearful of Jacobs and felt ‘threatened’ by his ‘offensive’ comments at the light and unsure of his identity, so he deliberately drove past his house so he couldn’t be followed home.
But the Pontiac kept on following and when Krupa, according to his account, got close to home he was pulled over by a police cruiser, driven by Ottawa Police Const. Steve McLaughlin.
At this point, Jacobs pulled up in the Pontiac, and parked the car on an angle in front of Krupa’s Subaru.
McLaughlin asked Krupa to identify himself and to get out of the car, and was told he was under arrest, according to Krupa who said he still didn’t know why he was being handcuffed.
This is when, according to Krupa and documents filed in a complaint to Ottawa police, Jacobs ran over and started kneeing and hitting Krupa and banging his face into the asphalt. According to Krupa, the officer then repeatedly hit him in the head, side and back.
Krupa said Jacobs yelled at him to stop resisting. Krupa told The Citizen that he replied he wasn’t resisting.
Krupa, who has never had any dealings with Ottawa Police, said he started crying from the “pain and shock.”
Krupa was then shoved in the backseat of the police cruiser.
According to hospital records and the complaint against police, the other officer on the scene did not transport Krupa, bleeding and in pain, to cellblocks. Instead McLaughlin called paramedics.
Paramedics, in turn, transported Krupa to hospital, where he was treated for a black eye, abrasions, contusions, lacerations to his face and head and sprains to his shoulders and legs.
The Ottawa Police showed up on May 10, 2009, at the Ottawa Hospital and charged Krupa with failing to stop for police and stunt driving.
Both charges have since been withdrawn, and Krupa was given a simple speeding ticket.
As a result of the complaint filed by Krupa, Jacobs was investigated by the Ottawa Police internal affairs unit and, according to police, he was cleared.
However, the Krupa family submitted another complaint to the province’s civilian police commission and it has ruled that Jacobs be charged under the Police Services Act for unlawful/excessive use of authority in the incident.
Jacobs has not responded to e-mail and telephone messages for his side of the story.
He will face a hearing this fall on charges that he used unlawful or excessive use of authority the night he pulled up beside Mark Krupa at a red light.
The Ottawa Police told The Citizen that Jacobs is on regular duty.
Jacobs has been in the public eye recently for another incident. According to a recent court ruling, he broke the rules on police searches by entering a Kanata-area home without a search warrant.
An Ottawa judge described the officer’s explanation as “not tenable.
Then the judge said the officer’s behaviour “would shock the conscience of the community.”
The Ottawa police are reviewing the unauthorized entry that disrupted a 16-month police investigation and prompted a judge to throw out key evidence as inadmissible.
Gary Dimmock can be reached at: gdimmock@ottawacitizen.com or www.twitter.com/crimegarden