N.S. officer sentenced to 12-month probation [Video]

A Halifax Regional Police officer who choked an intoxicated man unconscious will have to serve a 12-month probation before being discharged.

Const. Jacob Farr, 33, pleaded guilty to assault for putting pressure on a man’s neck until he lost consciousness outside a McDonald’s on Spring Garden Road on Oct. 12, 2020. Associate Chief Justice Patrick J. Duncan sentenced Farr to probation on Aug. 21. The written decision was released Tuesday.

According to agreed-upon facts of the case, Nathan Downing was loitering at the Lord Nelson Hotel with an open bottle of rum when a security guard asked him to leave. Downing went to the nearby McDonald’s and stole soda by filling his bottle with it. He also did not wear a mask, which was contrary to COVID-19 regulations at the time.

The facts state police arrived at the scene and removed Downing from the McDonald’s. Downing was “intoxicated and at …