Charges recommended against two police officers allegedly involved in assault

January 26, 2009
By Catherine Rolfsen, Vancouver Sun

Vancouver police are recommending charges be laid against two police officers allegedly involved in an attack on a Surrey delivery man last Wednesday.

They are recommending that charges of robbery be laid against an officer with the West Vancouver force, while charges of assault and possession of stolen property are recommended against an officer with the New Westminster police, Chief Const. Jim Chu said at a press conference this afternoon.

Police will not recommended against a third officer from Delta, Chu said.

He said there is evidence this officer in fact tried to intervene in the alleged assault.

Chu said names of the officers charged will be released when charges are laid.

The announcement comes less then a week after Vancouver police arrested three off-duty police officers from the New Westminster, West Vancouver and Delta police forces on suspicion of assault.

The alleged victim, 47-year-old Surrey delivery man Firoz Khan, said the officers attacked him unprovoked, robbed him, racially abused him and threatened to use a Taser.

Chu said that since the victim could not identify the officer who allegedly uttered racial remarks, police are not at this time recommending the case be tried as a hate crime.

However, he said police are still looking for witnesses in the case, and stressed that the courts will decide about whether the alleged racial remarks warrant hate crime sentencing.