Streetfighting surgeon fined for 2004 incident

As Dr Joel Freeman drove his red two-door Porsche along Ottawa's St Laurent Blvd one day in September 2004, another car suddenly cut him off. Enraged, he tailgated the careless driver, gesticulating and swearing for the car to pull over.

When the two cars pulled in and stopped in a nearby parking lot, Dr Freeman leapt to the driver's side of the other car, reached in and repeatedly punched the driver in the face. The 26-year-old driver was left with a bruised jaw and bloody split lip.

Police alleged that Dr Freeman held a closed pocket knife in his hand as he bludgeoned the man and investigators later found a blade with the name 'Freeman' engraved on the handle in his Porsche.

The injured driver pressed assault charges, as the Ottawa Citizen reported recently. (The story has been removed from their website because of some inaccuracies later corrected in this apology.) But when the case came before a judge in April 2006, the accusations of assault with a weapon and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose were withdrawn by the Crown after no evidence could be produced that Dr Freeman held the knife while striking the blows. In the end he pled guilty to one charge of assault and received an absolute discharge from the court.

Since the incident, Dr Freeman, a colorectal and gastric bypass specialist, has been publicly shamed. In 2005 he resigned his privileges at The Ottawa Hospital, and he's been removed from the University of Ottawa's medical faculty, where he taught in the past.

Now, his peers are taking him to task for his behaviour. At 9am this past Monday he had a disciplinary hearing at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. "The committee found that he committed an act of misconduct unbecoming of a physician," says College spokeswoman Kathryn Clarke. "We've ordered a public reprimand and that the results of the proceeding be published." He's been fined $2,500, to pay for half of the costs of the punishment proceedings. In an forthcoming release the committee plans to outline the reasons for their findings.


Photo: Street Fighter arcade game, by Capcom

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