Disciplinary hearing underway for officer accused of Tasering young man

November 1, 2010
CTV Edmonton

A disciplinary hearing for Const. Mike Wasylyshen is underway Monday. It's been eight years after the controversial incident where the constable is accused of Tasering a young man in the back of a police cruiser.

Wasylyshen is accused of two counts of unlawful exercise of authority and three counts of insubordination.

The charges stem back to October 2002 when a then 16-year-old Randy Fryingpan was found in a vehicle drunk and passed out.

Neighbours called police thinking the vehicle was about to be stolen. An agreed statement of facts showed a Taser was deployed eight times in 68 seconds.

Randy Fryingpan told CTV News last year that at the time of incident he was humiliated when police used excessive force on him.

"All of a sudden I was on the ground getting Tasered I blacked out again and then I woke up in a cop car," said Fryingpan.

Fryingpan sustained a number of injuries in the incident including bruising to his left eye, a broken tooth and burns consistent to those caused by a Taser.

During opening arguments, Wasylyshen's lawyer said: "For the first time we will hear the full story rather than piece meal parts pasted together."

Fryingpan, who is now 25-years-old, began his testimony Monday morning.

EDITORIAL: Justice Can Be Slow, and Mysterious

March 11, 2010
See Edmonton

British prime minister William Gladstone famously said: “Justice delayed is justice denied.” Gladstone may well have been speaking of the case of Randy Fryingpan, and Const. Mike Wasylyshen.

In October 2002, Const. Wasylyshen and four other officers were investigating a complaint of the attempted theft of a car. When they arrived on the scene, they found four people in the suspect vehicle.

Three of them left the car when ordered, but 16-year-old Fryingpan didn’t. He had passed out.

Wasylyshen unholstered his handy Taser and gave the unresponsive Fryingpan not one, not two, but EIGHT zaps in 68 seconds.

This is where Wasylyshen and Fryingpan entered the netherworld of complaints against police. Fryingpan registered a complaint, which was dismissed by the police when they arrived at the quite amazing conclusion that Wasylyshen was justified in Tasering an unresponsive man. Fryingpan’s lawyer appealed to the Law Enforcement Review Board in 2005. It took two more years before a decision was made to charge Wasylyshen with unlawful exercise of authority and insubordination. The internal disciplinary hearing on Wasylyshen will be held on Aug. 9 of this year.

Why the delay? According to Tony Simioni, head of the police union, if an appeal request is made, it must be heard, unlike a court of law where a judge decides if there is cause of hearing. This has resulted in cases dragging out for years.

This is absurd. No one — neither the alleged victim nor the accused cop — should have to wait eight years for a resolution.

Edmonton police chief directed to charge officer over Taser incident

August 18, 2009
By FRANK LANDRY, CITY HALL BUREAU

Police Chief Mike Boyd has been directed to lay charges against an Edmonton cop who repeatedly used a stun gun on a 16-year-old boy nearly seven years ago.

In its decision, the Law Enforcement Review Board calls for charges of "unlawful or unnecessary exercise of authority" and "insubordination" against Const. Mike Wasylyshen.

The board also recommends a presiding officer outside of the Edmonton Police Service oversee the disciplinary hearing.

According to an agreed statement of facts, Wasylyshen and four other officers were dispatched to a complaint of people trying to steal a parked car. The call was in the area of Abbottsfield Road. The cops, including Wasylyshen, ordered the people out of the vehicle without first questioning them or conducting a query on the licence plate. Three of four people inside immediately exited, but Randy Fryingpan was passed out in the backseat "as a result of his alcohol consumption and did not respond to the order to get out of the vehicle."

Wasylyshen fired his Taser at Fryingpan eight times over a period of a little more than a minute.

Fryingpan was arrested and later taken to the Sturgeon Community Hospital "where he was noted to have bruising to the left eye area, a skin flap laceration to the left fifth finger and a broken tooth."

Later, at the Edmonton Young Offenders Centre, he was observed to have several marks on his body "that appeared to be consistnt with burns caused by a Taser," states the decision.

The board concludes that: “Wasylyshen deployed his Taser on (Fryingpan) eight times in the span of 68 seconds, in what appeared to be an effort to remove the passed-out youth from the vehicle," states the decision.

"No evidence was presented to justify the use of a Taser; nor was any evidence presented to explain why the Taser was deployed eight times in just over a minute."

During the incident, Fryingpan suffered a blow to the back of his head. He fell to the ground and chipped his tooth, states the decision.

The board said there is sufficient evidence to suggest Wasylyshen "could have administered the blow."

Judge Jack Easton later halted Fryingpan's trial for breaching his bail conditions after concluding the teen's charter rights had been repeatedly violated by Wasylyshen, who, the judge declared, had used excessive force on the teen.

But Wasylyshen was never disciplined over the incident, as the EPS found insufficient evidence to support charges against him.

Fryingpan's lawyer launched an appeal to the Law Enforcement Review Board in 2005.

Police officer to face disciplinary hearing over Taser use

August 13, 2009
CBC News

An Edmonton police officer will face an internal disciplinary hearing related to an incident in 2002 in which he used a Taser stun gun repeatedly on a teenager who was passed out at the time.

Alberta's Law Enforcement Review Board ordered Edmonton Police Chief Mike Boyd to charge Const. Mike Wasylyshen with using excessive force and insubordination.

In its ruling, the board said Randy Fryingpan, then 16, was passed out drunk in the back seat of a broken-down car when the Taser was used on him. The board ruled there was no evidence to justify the use of the Taser.

The board has also ordered Edmonton Police to bring in a officer from another police service to preside over the disciplinary hearing "in the interest of providing a fair hearing."

In 2005, former acting police chief Daryl Da Costa decided Wasylyshen would not face any charges because he felt the allegations were unfounded.

The ruling by the Law Enforcement Review Board follows a lengthy appeal by Fryingpan's mother.

Wasylyshen agrees to disciplinary hearing over Taser incident

April 29, 2009
Elise Stolte, Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON — An Edmonton constable accused of Tasering a teenager passed out in the backseat of a car has agreed to refer the matter to an internal disciplinary hearing if all other officers connected to the file are excused.

A lawyer for Const. Michael Wasylyshen and four other officers made the request in an agreed statement of facts submitted to the Law Enforcement Review Board on Wednesday.

In October 2002, Randy Fryingpan, 16, was passed out in the backseat of a car. According to the statement, the data port on Wasylyshen’s Taser shows the trigger was pulled eight times in about one minute.

Later, when Fryingpan was taken to the Sturgeon Community Hospital, he had bruising under the left eye, a cut on his finger, a broken tooth and several burns on his body consistent with those caused by a Taser.

Wasylyshen recently came to public attention issuing a tearful apology after being convicted of assault for an off-duty incident on Whyte Avenue in December 2005.

Fryingpan’s mother complained about her son’s treatment in 2002, but then police Chief Bob Wasylyshen, the constable’s father, refused to call in outside investigators.

Then in February 2005, Provincial Court Judge Jack Easton ruled Fryingpan suffered “cruel and unusual treatment” and refused to punish him for breaching bail conditions by drinking.

In September 2005, then police chief Darryl da Costa reviewed the internal police investigation and decided charges were not warranted against the officers, including Wasylyshen.

Fryingpan’s lawyer appealed to the Law Enforcement Review Board.

They reserved their decision Wednesday and promised to issue a written decision soon.

Cop agrees to internal hearing into stun gun allegations

April 28, 2009
By SUN MEDIA

Const. Mike Wasylyshen has consented to an internal disciplinary hearing into an incident nearly four years ago when he zapped a sleeping teen with a Taser, confirmed a local lawyer.

The 33-year-old son of former police Chief Bob Wasylyshen recently came to an agreement with Randy Fryingpan's lawyer to proceed with a hearing.

Both parties are now awaiting a written decision from the Law Enforcement Review Board.

"We'll be back (today) to present a new agreed statement of facts," said lawyer Erika Norheim. "Hopefully the board will like it and approve the agreement."

In October 2002, Wasylyshen and five other police officers responded to a noise complaint near Abbottsfield Road. Fryingpan, then 16, had been drinking and smoking pot with several other youths when Wasylyshen and two other officers found him passed out in the back of a car. Wasylyshen is said to have shocked him with a Taser several times. Charges against Fryingpan were dropped in February 2003 after Judge Jack Easton ruled that he had suffered cruel and unusual treatment.

In May, Crown prosecutors argued there was insufficient evidence to charge Wasylyshen.

Fryingpan's lawyer launched an appeal to the Law Enforcement Review Board in 2005.

An internal disciplinary hearing was recently ordered for a December 2005 off-duty incident involving Wasylyshen in which he punched a man on crutches on Whyte Avenue, called him a cripple and threatened to burn down the home of a security guard who came to the victim's aid.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of assault, was fined $500 and given a criminal record.

B.C. Mountie has history of disciplinary, Taser problems

March 23, 2009
By Chad Skelton, Vancouver Sun

VANCOUVER — B.C. RCMP Sgt. Russell Hannibal, acquitted last year of excessive force after using his Taser twice in two days, has been disciplined four previous times by the force, The Vancouver Sun has learned.

Hannibal's misconduct ranges from lying to a superior about an expense claim to trying to date a 16-year-old whose phone number he obtained while on duty.

Last year, Hannibal was acquitted of assault with a weapon in connection with his use of a Taser against a handcuffed man.

The judge in the case said that while the evidence left her with reasonable doubt that Hannibal used excessive force, she still "completely rejected a lot of his testimony," adding parts of it were "obviously self-serving" and "after-the-fact rationalizations."

The ruling ended a battle that had been winding its way through the courts for six years.

In February 2002, Hannibal was charged in connection with two separate Taser deployments on Aug. 25 and 26, 2001.

In the first case, at the Foggy Dew pub in Port Coquitlam, Hannibal arrested a man who patted his female partner's behind. Then, after the man was already handcuffed, Hannibal Tasered him six times with the weapon in hand-held mode.

The next day, Hannibal used his Taser again, this time against a suicidal man being held down by three other officers.

Hannibal was acquitted of the second case in 2003, but the first took years to work its way through the courts because of legal arguments over delays in the case getting to trial.

Despite Hannibal's acquittal, the RCMP still pursued a disciplinary case against him in a hearing last September.

A copy of that hearing's decision, released in response to a request from the Sun, shows Hannibal received a formal reprimand, not for deploying his Taser, but for using "vulgar, inflammatory" language during his arrest at the pub.

Hannibal also was reprimanded for a separate incident a month earlier in which he told a fellow officer "your ass is mine."

The panel of three senior Mounties hearing Hannibal's case decided to give him a formal reprimand for both incidents.

In coming to its decision, the panel listed Hannibal's four prior disciplinary cases, including:

- Uttering a verbal threat during a confrontation with a member of the public in 1993.

- Using "tactless and oppressive" language during an interaction with a member of the public in 1993.

- Lying to a superior officer in order to get an expense claim approved in 1994.

- Attempting to date a 16-year-old in 2000 whose address and telephone number he obtained during the course of his duties.

Aside from the expense-claim issue — for which Hannibal was formally disciplined and docked three days' pay — the other cases were dealt with informally by the RCMP and did not go to a public hearing.

And in the case of Hannibal's attempt to date a teenager, his only penalty was a reprimand.

RCMP spokesman Sgt. Tim Shields said, because of privacy concerns, he could not provide any details about Hannibal's attempt to date the teen.

Shields also refused to say why the force decided to deal with the matter informally, other than to say Hannibal's commanding officer would have reviewed all the facts in the case before deciding against a formal hearing.

When reached by phone, Hannibal, who is now working in an administrative position at "E" Division headquarters, refused to answer any questions.

Taser-firing city police officer went too far

February 20, 2009
By MICHELLE THOMPSON, SUN MEDIA

Const. Andrew Hoglund was out of line when he Tasered a university student under arrest, a disciplinary hearing ruled.

Presiding officer Supt. Mark Logar ruled yesterday Hoglund lacked lawful or reasonable cause to zap Robert Boik outside the Globe bar near 109 Street and Jasper Avenue at closing time Sept. 4, 2004.

"Const. Hoglund's use of the Taser was not appropriate or necessary," Logar said.

"He used more force than necessary."

The disciplinary hearing heard Hoglund deployed his Taser gun as two other constables were arresting Boik about 2 a.m.

Boik's pal, who had just been in a scuffle with a group of men, was also arrested.

As the pair of cops cuffed Boik, a third constable emerged, zapping the suspect before trotting off into the night.

Hoglund failed to document the use of force, a move that presenting officer Insp. Shane Loxterkamp blasted him for.

"This is a very serious incident," Loxterkamp told the hearing.

"There were no notes. An officer's notes are truly the lifeblood of an investigation."

Loxterkamp also slammed Hoglund for using a Taser without good reason.

That was an opinion Logar sided with when he sentenced Hoglund to a 35-hour suspension without pay.

"That is the appropriate punishment," Logar said. "He, in essence, created the misfortune for himself."

Following the hearing, Boik, the 28-year-old victim, said he was relieved to see the matter brought to its conclusion.

But he said he found the sentence a bit light.

"In a lot of other professions, if you assault someone, you'd lose your job," Boik said. "And in this profession, you get suspended for 35 hours.

"It's absolutely outrageous and ridiculous I was Tasered." Boik said.

Disciplinary hearing ordered for Edmonton cop

February 19, 2009
By Ben Gelinas, Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON — A disciplinary hearing has been ordered for an Edmonton police officer after he allegedly forced his way into a man's apartment on gut instinct alone, shot his Taser at the male resident, then conducted a search of the apartment without a warrant or permission.

Const. Jason Mitzel and a rookie partner knocked on Virgil Holloway's door on Feb. 19, 2003 after a noise complaint. A woman appeared, but the officers told the Law Enforcement Review Board that she would only open the door a crack. She appeared intoxicated, would not say who lived there and gave them a false name.

Mitzel then tried to force open the door. The woman fought back, yelling and trying to hit him. He head-stunned her and she was handcuffed. She continued to yell and struggle, and the officers arrested her for assault and obstruction.

Her boyfriend, Holloway, said he came to the door when he heard her yelling.

Mitzel said Holloway was instantly aggressive. Holloway said that Mitzel grabbed him and threw him to the floor, then made a motion suggesting he was going to draw a weapon.

Holloway leapt up and tried to run back into the apartment. Mitzel wedged his foot in the door and stuck the Taser in, firing two darts. Holloway doesn't remember being hit, but said he heard a popping noise, felt delirious, sore and burnt in the chest. Mitzel said the darts hit the wall.

The officer told the board he does not remember if he warned Holloway before firing the Taser.

He then tackled Holloway and arrested him for obstruction.

Soon five more officers arrived and assisted Mitzel with a search of the apartment, without a warrant or permission, to figure out the resident's name.

Another constable, Tim Horon, drove Holloway to police headquarters. Horon strip searched Holloway, but did not take notes, claiming he was unaware he was required to submit a report. As such, police did not document any physical signs of injury. Holloway's brother, however, later took photos of red marks on Holloway's chest and behind his ear.

The board also ordered a disciplinary hearing for Horon for failing to take any notes during the investigation.

Edmonton cop found guilty of unnecessary force

February 19, 2009
Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON - An Edmonton constable who Tasered a man during an arrest outside a downtown bar has been found guilty of unnecessary use of force.

A police disciplinary hearing Thursday found that Hoglund was out of line when he fired his Taser at Robert Boik on the night of Sept. 4, 2004, when two other officers already had him under control.

"Const. Hoglund's use of the Taser was not appropriate or necessary," said Supt. Mark Logar, the presiding officer.

Logar noted that the other two officers did not ask for Hoglund's help, nor did he ask them if they needed help to subdue Boik, who was involved in a brawl in the parking lot of the Globe Bar and Grill at Jasper Avenue and 109th Street.

"Const. Hoglund cannot justify his actions," Logar said.

Hoglund had already pleaded guilty to failing to file a report on the incident.

The hearing is now considering sentencing arguments. At stake is Hoglund's promotion from constable to sergeant, which has been on hold since April 2007 pending the outcome of this hearing. The presenting officer, Insp. Shane Loxterkamp, is also asking that Hoglund lose 35 hours of pay.

Edmonton cop shouldn't have used Taser: Disciplinary ruling

February 19, 2009
By SUN MEDIA

An Edmonton cop has been found guilty under the Police Act of using a Taser without lawful cause. City police Supt. Mark Logar, who presided over a disciplinary hearing into charges against Const. Andrew Hoglund, ruled this morning Hoglund lacked reasonable cause to deploy the device. Hoglund used the Taser on a man being arrested by two other constables outside a city bar Sept. 4, 2004. "The Taser was not appropriate or necessary," Logar said.