From a guilty plea in a violent episode to an award for valour, Todd Sweet has come a long way in a decade-and-a-half.
The New Westminster officer, who admitted to kicking a handcuffed man in the head, was among a group of local cops recognized by the province during this year’s Police Honours Night.
The 38th annual event saw 114 officers from around B.C. get recognition for “valour and commitment to public safety.” That includes one from the New Westminster Police Department who was recognized for pulling an unconscious driver from a burning vehicle.
Off-duty Const. Todd Sweet was involved in extracting a driver and performing life-saving first aid in December 2017. Two other off-duty officers with the RCMP and the Vancouver Police Department were also awarded for the incident.
Sweet reportedly saw the driver crash headlong into a cement barrier and quickly stopped to help pull the driver from the burning vehicle.
Sweet performed CPR on the man, while the other officers cleared the man’s airways, stabilized his spine and directed traffic.
“Constable Sweet’s dedication to his job led him to perform a great act of bravery,” said acting Chief Const. Dave Jansen in an email statement. “While off duty, he saw this collision happen and got involved despite great personal risk. The steps Const. Sweet took to save that man exemplify his commitment to community service.”
It wasn’t the first time Sweet had made the news, however. The officer was also at the centre of two high-profile incidents in 2005, including one for which he pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm.
In June 2005, Sweet and another officer arrested a man after an early morning chase. The man had run red lights and reached speeds of 120 km/h in residential neighbourhoods, but he lost control on McBride Boulevard in the curve just before 10th Avenue.
Sweet and the other officer pulled the man out of the car, arrested him and handcuffed him. But while the man was lying on the ground in handcuffs, Sweet stepped over him and gave him a “substantial” kick to the head, as he later admitted in court.
Sweet pleaded guilty in May 2007, but that wasn’t the only incident from summer 2005 that would tail him in the ensuing years.
In August of that year, Sweet shot at a car involved in a dangerous police chase, injuring the driver and killing the front-seat passenger.
The shooting came at the end of a seven-minute chase involving a stolen SUV. The driver, then-18-year-old Ian Campbell, was cut off by Sweet’s vehicle, ending the chase. Sweet got out of the vehicle, and when he believed Campbell was about to ram the car, which he believed had another officer trapped inside, Sweet fired several rounds at the stolen SUV.
One shot hit Campbell in the hand, while 16-year-old passenger Kyle Tait was killed.
Sweet was cleared of wrongdoing by the NWPD and independent investigators, but an inquiry, which was not intended to find fault, made recommendations to the police force following the incident. That included recommending the use of dashboard cameras on police cars.
Sweet has been seconded to a position outside the NWPD, according to the department, and was not made available for an interview.
