by - Canada Supreme Court Justice Russell Brown is on paid leave after getting into an argument while on vacation.
- According to the police report, Brown allegedly followed drunk guests from the hotel bar back to their rooms.
- The judge was reportedly punched twice in the face during an altercation with a guest he was following.
Russell Brown, a Supreme Court Justice of Canada, is on indefinite paid leave after an altercation while on vacation after he allegedly tried to escort hotel guests to their rooms while intoxicated, according to a police report verified by Insider.
On Jan. 28, Brown spoke at a gala at the luxurious Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa in Montelucia, celebrating a former colleague’s receipt of the Sandra Day O’Connor Justice Prize from Arizona State University. After the celebrations, the allegedly drunk judge approached a group in the hotel lounge and sat with them.
Among the members of the group was a man identified in the police report as Jonathan Crump, who told the Vancouver Sun Brown had begun to brag about his importance as a Supreme Court Justice and read aloud from his speech, which he used to give held in the evening.
Crump and representatives from the Supreme Court of Canada did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
“He said the male was creepy. Crump said the male ‘touched’ his female companions and kissed them on the hand,” according to the police report, which included testimony from witnesses who told police they asked Brown to stop his behavior. “Crump said that when they all went back to their hotel rooms, the drunk man said he would go with them and followed them.”
The police report continued, “To protect the women and prevent the drunk, creepy, unwanted man from entering the hotel room uninvited, Crump hit the man a couple of times.”
Confirming the contents of the police report to the Vancouver Sun, Crump said, “I told him, ‘You’re clearly drunk and the girls are intimidated by your face twice and he fell to the ground.’
The beatings, according to the police report, “appeared reasonable and necessary given the circumstances” and it was determined that no crime had taken place and no arrests were made. Although police attempted to contact Brown at the time of the incident, when they knocked on his hotel room, he did not respond and his version of events was not included in the report.
According to a statement released by the court, the Supreme Court of Canada received a complaint from Crump on Jan. 31 and placed him on paid leave the following day pending the outcome of an ongoing investigation by the Canadian Judiciary Council.
Brown said in a statement to the Vancouver Sun that he originally planned not to comment on the incident “while the Canadian Judicial Council’s trial unfolds,” but given Crump’s “misstatements in the media,” he felt ” forced to answer.”
Brown’s testimony indicated that he left the lounge at the same time as the group he was escorting and Mr. Crump “suddenly, without warning or provocation,” struck the judge “several times on the head,” adding that he did not fight back and that the incident caused him “embarrassment” and “caused complications for the court.”
“I am confident that the Council will resolve this matter swiftly,” he added.
Representatives from the Paradise Valley Police Department, which is handling the complaint, declined Insider’s request for comment on the case.
