Alexander Levy, right, accused of manslaughter in the death of Ryan Sawyer, leaves Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax on Oct. 6, 2025.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
The final submissions in the manslaughter trial of a bouncer accused of killing a patron outside a Halifax bar on Christmas Eve of 2022 were heard in Nova Scotia Supreme Court Monday, with the defence and the Crown differing on key facts of a tragedy that has shone a spotlight on the province’s lack of regulation for bar security.
Alexander Pishori Levy faces charges of manslaughter and criminal negligence causing the death of 31-year-old Ryan Sawyer.
During the judge-only trial, a police officer testified that he was called to a violent fracas outside the Alehouse where he found Mr. Sawyer limp and blue in the face on the street as Mr. Levy lay squeezing his neck in a chokehold.
Mr. Sawyer was taken off life support later that day. His cause of death was hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (caused by a lack of blood or oxygen to the brain) owing to neck compression.
The Globe and Mail has reported extensively on Mr. Sawyer’s death and how, at the time of the tragedy, there were no regulations for security guards employed to keep order in bars in Nova Scotia – a fact both the Crown and the defence raised in their closing arguments.
“Unfortunately, we live in a province where we lack government regulation around bar security training and there are limited checks and balances to ensure compliance with the basic safety standard for our bar security staff,” senior Crown attorney Rob Kennedy told the court. “However, this lack of regulation does not give a green light to bouncers to use excessive force.”
Nova Scotia mandates background checks for bouncers after 2022 death of bar patron
Mr. Levy’s lawyer James Giacomantonio submitted that his client was an experienced bouncer who acted in self-defence. He said Mr. Sawyer was clawing and bicycle kicking after more than three minutes of tussling with bouncers, and that is why Mr. Levy squeezed his neck in a sleeper hold that cuts off the airway.
Mr. Giacomantonio said his client felt like he was losing control of the situation and was concerned that he and others were in danger because of “a large and strong individual, who wasn’t, up to that point, obeying directions of the staff, and was in fact physically engaging with them.”
The bouncer has used this chokehold up to 100 times to safely subdue bar patrons, Mr. Giacomantonio said. He’d been trained on how to use it and thought he was using a safe technique, holding Mr. Sawyer in a relatively brief chokehold for 10 to 15 seconds. Therefore, he added, Mr. Sawyer’s death was not a foreseeable outcome.
Ryan Sawyer’s parents Scott, left, and Lee in 2023.Darren Calabrese/The Globe and Mail
“It was a lightning strike,” said Mr. Giacomantonio. “It’s a heart attack while shovelling the driveway.”
Crown attorney Mr. Kennedy submitted, based on an assessment of the videos that were obtained from the street corner and other witness testimony, that Mr. Sawyer was in a chokehold for closer to two minutes, which he said is dangerous.
He argued that evidence from Halifax Regional Police Constable Jairus Lamphier, who witnessed Mr. Levy’s last interaction with Mr. Sawyer, was critical. Constable Lamphier testified that when he arrived on the scene, he saw Mr. Levy putting pressure on Mr. Sawyer’s neck in a chokehold. Constable Lamphier said he called out to Mr. Levy to remove his arm from Mr. Sawyer’s neck several times before taking it away himself.
The fight began around 1 a.m. shortly after Mr. Sawyer and his brother Kyle Sawyer were ejected from the bar by Alehouse bouncers. Kyle Sawyer, who was intoxicated, had spilled a drink on a patron and pushed him inside the bar.
Outside and standing on the sidewalk near the entrance to the Alehouse, Mr. Sawyer approached Mr. Levy, who was then pushed by Kyle Sawyer.
The Crown submitted that the push led Mr. Levy to spiral into a fit of rage.
“Ryan Sawyer did not deserve to die that day,” said Mr. Kennedy. “Ryan Sawyer did not do anything aggressive or threatening up to the point that Alex Levy put a chokehold on him for an extended period of time.”
Mr. Kennedy listed alternatives to a chokehold, including not entering the fray as there were two bouncers next to Mr. Sawyer or using a less risky manoeuvre, such as restraining with body weight. He also said Mr. Levy should have stopped applying pressure to Mr. Sawyer’s neck when he was no longer moving.
Justice James Chipman reserved his decision to late next month.
Outside court, Mr. Kennedy said if bar bouncers had been regulated with training and licences, staff at the Alehouse and other bars would at least be held to a higher standard.
In response to Mr. Sawyer’s death, the Nova Scotia government has announced plans to mandate all security staff working in bars to now receive training and submit to background checks.