Several Fort Erie residents have recently claimed to have been victimized by “roid rage” perpetrated by Niagara Regional Police Constable Geoff Purdie. The individuals have come forward after recent evidence suggested that Purdie was a user of anabolic steroids.
Roy Atkinson, a 54-year-old on disability, told CBC News that he was beaten by Purdie outside The Plaice restaurant after he complained about Purdie’s three-year old daughter being seated at the bar in February 2012.
“He put me over the SUV and he banged my head on the hood twice, and then he started beating me on the side of the head,” said Atkinson. “Every time he beat me, he kept saying ‘Stop resisting!’ I wasn’t resisting. All I was doing was trying to… cover head my head.”
Laura Crawford also told CBC News that Purdie violently assaulted her husband Robert Cox in June 2009. Crawford called 911 to reported a domestic disturbance with her husband. When Constable Purdie and his partner Constable Ryan Woehl arrived, they proceeded to assault Cox.
“I just came here to open the door, to let him in to talk to Laura.… That was it. He swung and hit me right here on my teeth,” Cox said. “Knocked my metal plate, crushed it, dragged me down, put me on the hood of the car…. Then he started pounding me in the side of the head, back of the head, grabbing me by the neck.”
Crawford filed a formal complaint with Niagara Regional Police but it was dismissed after the officers’ accounts were given more credibility.
Purdie was busted last spring for importing anabolic steroids and other illegal drugs into the United States. A formal criminal complaint was filed against Purdie in August 2012 by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York.
Purdie was charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. The controlled substances included approximately $580,000 worth of anabolic steroids, testosterone, Valium, Xanax and GBL. The constable was reportedly a key member of an extensive steroid and drug smuggling network that extended throughout the southern portion of the Canadian province of Ontario.
The steroid scandal led to extensive investigations involving Purdie’s colleagues on the “C Platoon” Fort Erie detachment of the Niagara Regional Police Service (NRPS). The reported trafficking and use of anabolic steroids by other divisions, such as the elite Emergency Task Unit (ETU) of the NRPS, as far back as 2006, has also resurfaced during the current scandal.
CBC, and other local media, have quickly jumped on the bandwagon to demonize steroids as a result of the NRPS cops and steroids scandal.
Source:
Seglins, D. & Nicols, J. (September 10, 2012). Steroid allegations within Niagara police go back years. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/09/09/niagara-police-steroids-allegations.html
