TN! of the week: Helen Roberts, Federal Government Lawyer at the Braidwood Inquiry

Who would have thought the Braidwood inquiry would take such a major turn "before" closing arguments ?

Today it was revealed that a crucial email was "overlooked" by the legal team representing the Government of Canada.

In the now partly disclosed email, Supt. Dick Bent writes to an RCMP Assistant Commissioner that the four officers responsible for the killing of Dziekanski "had discussed [their] response en route [to the airport,] that if [Dziekanski] did not comply that they would go to [use the taser]".

This appears to contradict earlier made statements by the four officers; they all testified in court that no discussion on how to respond had taken place prior to entering the airport.

Sounds like signs of cover-up to me.

Helen Roberts apologized today for the "overlooked" email from Bent, but, for someone who has been following this inquiry closely, I find it very hard to believe that such a damning email can so easily be overlooked; of course this legal team wanted to protect the government and its subsidiaries from blame, and given they were the single collector of government dossiers they had the intend, means and the opportunity.

Taser-Nazi of the Week
However appalling the above might read to you, it's not the sole reason why Helen Roberts got nominated for being the Taser-Nazi of the Week. After all, my explanation is still nothing more than speculation on WHY she and her team "overlooked" such a crucial email.

Neither did she get nominated for breaking out in tears: these are stressful times for everyone involved, including Helen Roberts and her Mounties.

What got her nominated was the content of her tearful explanation. She simply kept in line with her "old" narrative, propping up the cops's version of the truth that they never had any conversation about how to respond before getting to the airport, and that Bent was, how did she put that again, simply "mistaken."

A mistake, that explains it, right?

Helen Roberts, dismissing crucial evidence as a "mistake" while withholding this highly contradictory evidence coming from a top RCMP brass has gotten you nominated for Taser-Nazi of the week.

Congratulations!

UPDATE 1: This post called "Canada: Cover-up of RCMP murder of immigrant worker unravels" on the World Socialist website should not be missed

UPDATE 2: I agree with Vancouver Sun's conclusion of the column Mounties in Tasering should face prosecution: "That was not an "oversight." It was professional incompetence or a cover-up."

More Police Brutality in Victoria "the best place to live" British Columbia

The Victoria Police Department is at it again: police brutality rocks!

A Victoria police rookie constable used excessive force against two intoxicated people held in police cells, an internal investigation found.

[An] internal investigation launched by the department found the officer abused his authority and neglected his duty under the B.C. Police Act. He was suspended for five days without pay and is now back to work.

Sure, excessive force is fine, let's get back to work, Arbeit macht frei, nicht?

The officer's [use of excessive force was] not deemed criminal, [...] and neither of the two people roughed up in the cells suffered permanent injury.

There we go again, the police policing themselves, of course then it's not "criminal".

This was the third allegation of police [brutality] in police cells made public in the last two years.

I told you, Victoria really is the best place to live! Join the force, beat up some people, and get away with it!

Victoria teen Willow Kinloch successfully sued the department last year after she was tethered and restrained while drunk in a police cell in 2005. The complaint commissioner recently announced a full public inquiry into the matter.

A police complaint hearing determined Victoria police Const. Greg Smith used unnecessary force when he pushed handcuffed Camosun college student Thomas McKay head-first to a concrete floor. McKay struck his head and was permanently brain-damaged after the April 2004 incident.

That's unfortunate, not everybody seems to get away with it. I'm sure Greg feels very sorry about it all.

The abuse-of-force cases led to changes in police cells, including upgrading cameras and posting a sergeant to provide full-time supervision of prisoners.

Yeah, that obviously helped a lot.

LINK
- We beat up people for a living

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Internal probe finds cop used excessive force

Two intoxicated people roughed up by rookie in Victoria police cells

By Katie Derosa, Times ColonistJune 18, 2009

A Victoria police rookie constable used excessive force against two intoxicated people held in police cells, an internal investigation found.

Police have released few details about the October incident but an internal investigation launched by the department found the officer abused his authority and neglected his duty under the B.C. Police Act. He was suspended for five days without pay and is now back to work.

The officer's actions were not deemed criminal, however, and neither of the two people roughed up in the cells suffered permanent injury. Police would not identify the officer but said he has been with the force for two years.

Victoria police Chief Jamie Graham announced the investigation in January after reviewing the video surveillance footage and discussing the matter with the police complaint commissioner.

Victoria police spokesman Sgt. Grant Hamilton would not return calls for comment.

This was the third allegation of police wrongdoing in police cells made public in the last two years.

Victoria teen Willow Kinloch successfully sued the department last year after she was tethered and restrained while drunk in a police cell in 2005. The complaint commissioner recently announced a full public inquiry into the matter.

A police complaint hearing determined Victoria police Const. Greg Smith used unnecessary force when he pushed handcuffed Camosun college student Thomas McKay head-first to a concrete floor. McKay struck his head and was permanently brain-damaged after the April 2004 incident.

McKay settled a lawsuit with the city for an undisclosed amount.

The abuse-of-force cases led to changes in police cells, including upgrading cameras and posting a sergeant to provide full-time supervision of prisoners.

© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist

23 Canadians dead; we need a moratorium on the use of tasers, NOW!

The Canadian Press has a list of Canadian cases since 2003 in which people died after police use of Tasers:

Nov. 3, 2008: Gordon Walker Bowe, 30, from Castlegar, B.C., died in hospital after he was located in the basement of a Calgary home by police responding to calls about a possible break-and-enter.

Oct. 29, 2008: Trevor Grimolfson died after he was confronted by police armed with Tasers who found him running amok in an Edmonton pawn shop.

Sept. 30, 2008: Frank Frachette, 49, died after he was jolted with a Taser by police who were trying to arrest him in connection with a bank robbery in Langley, B.C.

Sept. 16, 2008: Sean Reilly, 42, died less than 12 hours after he was Tasered during a struggle in a cell at a police station in Peel Region, outside Toronto.

July 22, 2008: Michael Langan, 17, died in hospital after being shot with a Taser. Winnipeg police say the youth refused to comply with repeated requests by officers to put a knife down. The victim was believed to be involved in the theft of property from a vehicle.

June 23, 2008: Jeffrey Marreel, 36, died in custody after Ontario Provincial Police, responding to a disturbance in the town of Norfolk, near Simcoe, shocked him with a Taser. Marreel's father said the man had a history of drug use and lost his job at a flower nursery two weeks prior.

Nov. 22, 2007: Howard Hyde, 45, died about 30 hours after he was Tasered by Halifax police at a Dartmouth jail. An inquest later ruled his death accidental and the result of "excited delirium," not the Taser.

Oct. 17, 2007: Quilem Registre, 39, died in a Montreal hospital after police used a Taser on him at a police station. Police say Registre became aggressive during questioning after he was stopped for a traffic violation.

Oct. 14, 2007: Robert Dziekanski, 40, died after police used a Taser and forcibly subdued him after he became agitated at Vancouver Airport, where he had arrived from Poland.

Aug. 30, 2006: Jason Doan, 28, died in Red Deer, Alta., after police used a Taser in responding to a complaint about a man seen damaging vehicles.

Dec. 24, 2005: Alessandro Fiacco, 33; witnesses said police used a Taser to subdue an agitated Fiacco who had been running into traffic in Edmonton.

July 15, 2005: Paul Saulnier, 42, died in Digby, N.S., after police tried to keep him from leaving the detachment by using pepper spray, batons and a Taser.

July 1, 2005: James Foldi, 39, died after police used a Taser while trying to arrest him following reports of numerous break-ins in the Beamsville, Ont., area.

June 30, 2005: Gurmeet Sandhu, 41, died in Surrey, B.C., after police used a Taser while responding to complaints about a domestic dispute.

May 5, 2005: Kevin Geldart, 34, died after police tried to subdue him with a Taser outside a Moncton, N.B., bar.

Aug. 8, 2004: Samuel Truscott, 43, died in Kingston, Ont., hours after being shot with a Taser. The Ontario coroner said Truscott was killed by a drug overdose.

July 17, 2004: Jerry Knight, 29, died in hospital in Brampton, Ont., after he was shot with a Taser during a violent struggle with police. A pathologist found no proof the stun gun was to blame for his death, saying Knight died from restraint asphyxia and cocaine-related 'excited delirium'.

June 23, 2004: Robert Bagnell, 44, died at a Vancouver hotel after being shot with a Taser by police, who said Bagnell was in the throes of a potentially lethal cocaine-induced psychosis at the time.

May 13, 2004: Peter Lamonday, 33, died in London, Ont., after being pepper-sprayed, punched and shot several times with a Taser during a struggle with police. Ontario's Special Investigation Unit concluded Lamonday died from cocaine-induced 'excited delirium" and not from police action.

May 1, 2004: Roman Andreichikov, 25, died in Vancouver after he was forcibly subdued and hit with a Taser by police while reportedly high on crack cocaine.

Sept. 28, 2003: Clark Whitehouse, 34, died in Whitehorse, Yukon. RCMP reported Whitehouse fled on foot while attempting to swallow drugs. Officers used a Taser to subdue him. A short time later, he appeared to be having trouble breathing and was pronounced dead at hospital.

July 22, 2003: Clay Willey, 33, died in hospital in Prince George, B.C., 16 hours after police used a Taser on him at an RCMP detachment. Willey was arrested in the parking lot of a local mall after police received complaints about a man acting aggressively. An autopsy found he had potentially lethal amounts of cocaine in his system.

April 19, 2003: Terrance Hanna, 51, died at the North Burnaby Inn in Burnaby, B.C., after pulling a knife and hammer on police. High on cocaine, he went into cardiac arrest after police shot him with a Taser.

Life saved! Officer intended to use taser but pulled gun

There's now "evidence" that NOT using a taser actually saves lives:

NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- The Nicholasville Police Department says one of its officers intended to use his Taser to stop a fight between two men, but mistakenly pulled his pistol and shot one of them.

Yes, tasers make you trigger-happy. We know that many people (including the latest taser death Kevin Piskura) have died soon after having been tasered; so how's this fellow doing, after being shot with a lethal gun?

State police say Michael W. McCarty was taken to the University of Kentucky Hospital after being struck in the lower back by a bullet. Hospital officials say he's in fair condition.

A life saved by NOT using a taser; hallelujah.

RCMP is getting ready to taser babies

The RCMP loves tasering people of all sorts and ages. So why not tasering babies?

Babies can get pretty annoying, especially when they won't let you sleep. If you think that's enough to get tasered these days, think again:

An RCMP detachment in a suburb of Victoria, B.C., is being accused of misusing a Taser stun gun on a 15-year-old boy who was being arrested for disobeying a court-ordered curfew for a mischief charge.

the boy was attempting to wriggle out of a police car when an officer fired a Taser shot into his leg.

Wait a minute! I thought the RCMP would only use the Taser as a weapon of last resort. Whose afraid of a fleeing teenager?

But things got a lot worse from there:

Shortly after, the boy began kicking the police-car door from the inside and the officer decided to use the Taser again, on the boy's chest, the report says.

Well, a 15 year old boy kicking a police car from the inside, that's enough reason to Taser again and again, isn't it? Just as annoying as a crying baby would be. I'm glad I'm not married to a police officer who brings his/her taser home in the evening. I wouldn't trust him/her for moment with a crying baby.

Footnote
There'll be no formal investigation into whether the Taser was improperly used in this case other than the standard review that is always done whenever a police weapon is deployed. Watch your babies.

LINKS
- CBC: RCMP accused of misusing Taser on Victoria B.C. teen.
- All my Taser posts
- Wikipedia: Taser
- Wikipedia: Police Brutality