CALGARY COP ACQUITTED OF GAS STATION SKIRMISH.

A veteran city police officer has been acquitted of assaulting a woman in connection with an incident at a downtown gas station two years ago.Provincial court Judge Harry Gaede agreed with defence lawyer Willie de-Wit's argument on Monday that Const. Blaine Ellerby was acting in self-defence when he put up his arm to block the charging, unidentified woman.Gaede then found the officer not guilty.

Ellerby, 47, is a nine-year member of the Calgary Police Service.DeWit said his client was filling up his vehicle at the Esso station at 12th Avenue and 1st Street S.W. about 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 27, 2009, when a taxi drove up, a man got out and told him his girlfriend was beating him up.He said Ellerby then told her to get out of the vehicle and she began swearing, threw some items at him and knocked him to the ground."She's belligerent and loud," said deWit."

She moves toward him and he reacts by putting his hand out with his palm, striking her in the side of the head," the lawyer said.The woman was not named in the court records and did not show up at court for trial.She sustained some swelling as a result of the incident.Ellerby has remained on duty since the incident, said deWit.

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