Lets step into our way back machine and travel back in time, not to some backwards country where cops without cause make bogus arrests or beat the crap out you. No we are staying here in democratic Hamilton and traveling just a little while ago.
Flashback, early the morning of Aug. 15, 2003, Mann and fellow officer Christian Beaulne responded to a call that a short white man wearing light-coloured sneakers was breaking into a John Street South jewellery store.
Around the same time, Dixon had gotten off a GO bus and began walking. The two officers ended up arresting Dixon at gunpoint in a parking lot along Hunter Street. He spent three days in jail and waited nine months before the Crown withdrew the charges.
Under cross-examination, Mann rejected Zbogar’s suggestion that he concocted his version of events to support the arrest. Dixon, a black man, claims the officers discriminated against him on the basis of race despite witness descriptions of the robbery suspect.
Superior Court Judge Kim Carpenter-Gunn ordered the police board, along with Mann and Detective Constable Jason Leek, who conducted a formal video interview the night of the arrest, to pay Dixon just under $80,000 to cover his legal bills. Beaulne, who died in 2009 of a medical condition, was exempted from the cost ruling.
Earlier this week, Carpenter-Gunn ruled the police board and the officers had committed false arrest, false imprisonment, negligent investigation and Charter rights of liberty and security of person, and called the officers inept, arrogant, closed-minded, lacking experience and suffering from tunnel vision.
She awarded Dixon $54,000 in damages, including prejudgment interest, which will be paid by Hamilton taxpayers as per Police Services Act rules.
Let's get back to this past year while the rancid taste in our mouths is still fresh, because history is repeating itself.
“Troubling ... inconsistencies ... inability or unwillingness ... strains credulity ... the spectre of a coverup.” So said Ontario Court Justice Paul Currie, in acquitting this week a Hamilton police officer charged with assault causing bodily harm to a refugee from Myanmar during a botched drug raid.
On May 4, 2010, heavily armed members of the Hamilton tactical squad mistakenly burst into the apartment of Po La Hay as he was cooking dinner.
Hay, a 130-pound single father of three, sustained cuts and scrapes to his face, three fractured ribs and a fractured vertebra after police broke down his door, put a handgun to his forehead, handcuffed him and saw to it that “a foot was applied to his left side, his rib area,” according to one of the officers.
It was only afterward that police realized something had gone terribly wrong; They had assaulted an innocent man and invaded the wrong apartment. Moreover, none of the five officers in the kitchen with Hay could positively identify which one “applied” the foot.
“It’s a case about an excessive use of force,” Crown counsel Elliot Behar said during the trial.
That case is over, but now it is about something else. Getting this man and his dignity back and shutting a bunch of useless arrogant sons of b's up. Hamilton Police Chief Glenn De Caire stated after the judge’s comments this week that Hamilton police “are cognizant of both the ruling and the commentary” and “accepts and respects the decision of the court.” The service has already “assessed our practices and procedures for entries during search warrants” and has made changes in the wake of the raid last year.
If De Caire spent more time in training officers in procedural manners instead of taking media training he might have some actual answers. Does the chief not owe it to the citizens of Hamilton and his own department to investigate further the “spectre of a coverup?” Would it not be appropriate to appoint an outside investigator to look into the matter and respond officially for the benefit of both the police force and the community?
"This is a serious matter. Police are trained in observation and recollection, which is why their testimony is given more credence during trials." I love this quote from the Spec, short answer, in the real world this would be the case, but when offers stare directly at a judge and tell them with a straight face they couldn't id their own fellow cops. Pal, don't snow the snowman.
Hay is seeking at least $1.35 million in damages, while his son Say Blut, nephew Pa Nar Noo and daughter Ba Blut are also seeking a combined $1.2 million, according to the statement of claim, which includes allegations not yet proven in court. Hay’s son and nephew were in the apartment when police burst through the door May 4, 2010, and both list “soft tissue injuries” to the chest, neck and spine in the statement of claim.
More than 20 current and former Hamilton police officers are listed as defendants, including members of the tactical squad, Police Chief Glenn De Caire and Detective Constable Ryan Tocher, who was found not guilty of assault causing bodily harm in a criminal proceeding related to the botched raid last week. The Hamilton Police Services Board is also listed as a defendant.
Unfortunately the tax payers will be on the hook for any payout to Hay, and unless De Caire grows a pair and rights this leaky ship and gets rid of the racist, subordinated, stench from his office Hamilton will continue to look unattractive to it's long time residences and anyone wanting to make a new living here. It's time for the blue wall of coverup to be torn down and replaced with a transparent shield of good faith.
Later,
Kenaz
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