Taser lawsuit dropped

March 28, 2011
Mike Bothwell, VANCOUVER/CKNW AM 980

The family of a man who died after being tasered is dropping their lawsuit against Vancouver Police. They did have a strong case according to Cameron Ward, the lawyer for Robert Bagnell's family. But they decided not go ahead because of the high cost of what was expected to be a six week trial.

The 44 year old Bagnell was tasered in police custody in June 2004. A coroner's jury later found he died of cardiac arrest related to cocaine intoxication.

Cameron Ward says BC law doesn't value the life of a son who is not a breadwinner. The family was faced with spending alot of money with little chance of winning a court award to cover those costs.

Vancouver police chief argues civilian-led investigative unit should have broader scope

October 6, 2010
straight.com

Vancouver's top cop says a broader mandate is needed for a new civilian unit that has authority to investigate deaths and other serious incidents involving police in B.C.

“I strongly urge the government to consider expanding the mandate of this proposed agency to handle all complaints against police, not just in-custody deaths or serious injury,” Chief Jim Chu said in a statement released today (October 6) by the department.

In June, Attorney General Michael de Jong announced the Independent Investigation Office would be formed over the coming year, with power to look into complaints leveled against both RCMP and municipal police forces.

Thomas Braidwood, the commissioner of the inquiry into the 2007 Taser death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, recommended the creation of such a civilian-led body in his final report.

Chu emphasized the need to address public perceptions of bias when police investigate themselves.

He urged the B.C. government to go a step further by giving the IIO power to investigate the “full range” of complaints covered by the Police Act.

Chu argued an expanded IIO mandate will boost public confidence in investigations and free up the resources of municipal police forces.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson has also expressed support for Chu’s call.

“The province’s creation of an IIO is a good start, but it does not go far enough," Robertson, who is also the police board chair, said in a statement. "Having civilians investigate all forms of police complaints, not just police-related deaths or injuries, is the right way to maintain trust and accountability between the police and the public.”

“Given the number of serious police incidents across B.C. in recent years that have shaken the public’s confidence, it’s crucial we strive for the highest levels of accountability in our policing system."

Vancouver police use Tasers less often: Study

September 14, 2009
Metro News Vancouver

Vancouver police officers use stun guns less frequently than other large Canadian jurisdictions. A report to the police board Wednesday ranks Vancouver as eighth out of 12 jurisdictions in terms of Taser use.

In 2008, VPD used the Taser only 33 times, about once every 11 days. They also showed the weapon, but did not deploy it, another 67 times. By comparison, Toronto police used Tasers 367 times in 2008. Edmonton police used the stun guns 91 times, Calgary 73 times and Winnipeg 68 times.

At the bottom of the scale, Halifax police used Tasers only five times. Victoria police used theirs 20 times and Hamilton police 25 times.

The report also notes that five jurisdictions, including Montreal and Surrey RCMP, did not return the survey.

Taser inquiry delayed to Sept. after explosive email suggests officers lied

WOW. This takes me back to the day the coroner's inquest into my brother's death was abruptly halted. We became aware of a letter written by then Victoria Chief of Police Paul Battershill to Dirk Ryeveld, the police complaint commissioner for British Columbia, that raised concerns about the use of tasers. (Chief Battershill was in charge of the Victoria Police Department, which had been tasked by the police complaint commissioner to investigate the Vancouver Police`s use of tasers on my brother.) When we requested that the letter, which arrived at the inquest in a binder brought by a witness police officer, be marked as an inquest Exhibit, the coroner left the room for several hours before returning to announce that the inquest was adjourned. He did so without the jury present and he then left the hearing before our lawyer Cameron Ward could file any argument or submission requesting the inquest continue. The Coroner also ordered a ban on the distribution of the letter, in which Chief Battershill raised concern about whether police, by themselves, should be in charge of deciding where tasers belonged on the use of force continuum or whether this required wider public discourse. See Taser Inquest Shut Down.

WHO WILL STOP THIS MADNESS???????

June 19, 2009
By James Keller, The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER, B.C. - A single sentence contained in an email between RCMP brass in the weeks after Robert Dziekanski died has derailed a public inquiry, raising questions yet again about the testimony of four police officers and prompting calls for further investigation of the national police force.

As closing arguments were set to begin on Friday, a lawyer for the inquiry revealed a previously unreleased email that suggested the RCMP officers developed a plan to use a Taser before they arrived at Vancouver's airport.

All four insisted in their testimony that they did not.

The email was met with a tearful apology by the RCMP's lawyer for not releasing it sooner and denials from lawyers for the four officers and one of the senior Mounties referenced in the note.

All claimed the contents of the email were the result of a simple misunderstanding.

Commissioner Thomas Braidwood chided the RCMP for coming up with the email so late, and put the inquiry on hold until Sept. 22 so its contents can be investigated.

"I find the delay in disclosing this material to the commission to be appalling," said Braidwood.

"At the very least, it should have been disclosed to the commission before those officers testified."

The delay means the inquiry could still be hearing new evidence from senior RCMP officials and additional testimony from the four officers nearly two years after Dziekanski died on the airport floor.

Braidwood's final report - which will serve as a public record of what happened and include recommendations to prevent future tragedies - will be put off even longer.

And in the meantime, the RCMP, whose image appears to have already been damaged by the Dziekanski affair, has been forced to explain both the contents of the email and why it was kept from public view for so long.

The email was written in November 2007, just weeks after Dziekanski's confrontation with the Mounties.

In it, Chief Supt. Dick Bent and RCMP Assistant Commissioner Al McIntyre were discussing their media strategy for the release of the now-infamous amateur video of the fatal confrontation.

Bent recounted a conversation with Supt. Wayne Rideout, who was in charge of the investigation into Dziekanski's death.

"Spoke to Wayne, and he indicated that the members . . . . had discussed the response en route and decided that if he did not comply, that they would go to CEW (Taser)," wrote Bent, whose email was read in court on Friday.

The inquiry heard that the email was contained on a CD that the RCMP gave its lawyers in April, but government lawyers didn't look through its contents until this week.

Federal government lawyer Helen Roberts apologized for not finding the email sooner, which she called an "oversight," while casting doubt on the email's contents.

"Canada continues, as it has all along, to fully support the work of this commission," a tearful Roberts told the commissioner.

Still, Roberts said government lawyers have interviewed Bent, Rideout and McIntyre and concluded Bent's email may have simply been wrong.

"It is our conclusion from these interviews that Chief. Supt. Bent must have misunderstood information provided to him by Supt. Rideout," she said.

Lawyers for the four Mounties each stood up and said Bent's email was wrong.

But that wasn't enough for the commission.

While inquiry lawyer Art Vertlieb acknowledged the email was second-hand hearsay, he said the commission must determine whether or not Bent's comments are accurate - and whether there are any other documents that have yet to be seen.

"The RCMP have had this for a long, long time - it should have been out," Vertlieb told reporters.

The force released a statement insisted it has "co-operated fully" with the inquiry.

"Unfortunately in an exercise of this magnitude, such an oversight can occur," the statement said.

"The RCMP is as disappointed as all of the parties involved in this inquiry that there will be a delay in the completion of the inquiry."

Vertlieb also pointed out that it's not clear if prosecutors saw the email before making their decision on charges.

"One of the other questions is: Did the attorney general's office and the charge approval see this? And we have no idea."

Crown prosecutors announced last December that they wouldn't be charging the officers, but the officers' testimony prompted loud calls for that decision to be reconsidered.

The attorney general at the time said they could re-open the case if they hear new evidence, although the current attorney general wouldn't say whether the email would fit the bill.

Mike de Jong, who was sworn in as attorney general last week, declined to comment about the contents of the email or whether prosecutors may have seen it, and said any further decisions would wait until after the inquiry.

"It will be for Mr. Justice Braidwood to assess the evidence, assess its relevance and make appropriate findings," de Jong said in an interview.

"I will say this: Commissions like this and in fact our system of justice, rely on the fact that all witnesses who give evidence under oath, that they provide truthful and honest answers."

Dziekanski's mother, Zofia Cisowski, who has long demanded that the officers be charged, said she doesn't believe Bent was mistaken in the email.

She said she believes Braidwood will get to the truth of what really happened.

"I have to wait patiently, because what can I do?" she said. "I want to know everything about this case and that helps me to slowly understand."

The four RCMP officers' lawyers are also in the middle of their own legal manoeuvres unrelated to Friday's surprising developments.

Earlier in the week, they lost a court challenge in a B.C. court, where they argued Braidwood shouldn't be able to make findings of misconduct against them.

Ravi Hira, one of the officers' lawyers, said he and the others are considering launching an appeal, although he wouldn't say if the latest delay gives them more time to do that.

"We're certainly looking at that (an appeal)," said Hira.

Ujjal Dosanjh, a former B.C. premier and the federal Liberals' public safety critic, used the furor over the undisclosed email to call for a "comprehensive federal review" of the RCMP and its policies on Tasers.

"It should look at whether or not . . . the culture of the RCMP is broken and whether or not it is in need of a major overhaul," Dosanjh said in an interview.

"And if it is, what are the recommendations for that overhaul."

The inquiry resumes on Sept. 22.

Vancouver cops should be kept apart after police-related deaths: ethics advisor

June 17, 2009
By Carlito Pablo, Georgia Strait

Cops involved in police-related deaths of civilians shouldn’t be comparing notes with each other, according to the ethics advisor for the Vancouver police board.

Advisor H.A.D. Oliver suggested in a report to be received for information by the board today (June 17) that it is important to segregate police officers so they won’t come up with a “sanitized” version of such fatal incidents.

Oliver said that the importance of this procedure was recognized by retired B.C. Supreme Court judge William Davies, who conducted an inquiry into the death of Native man Frank Paul.

In his interim report, released in March, Davies recommended the creation of a civilian-based Independent Investigation Office with a mandate to probe “a wide variety of factual circumstances, including (but not limited to) a death in a police department jail cell, a death resulting from an officer’s use of force or a motor vehicle, or a death arising from some other form of police interaction with the deceased”.

As part of this recommendation, Davies proposed that “pending arrival of the IIO at the incident scene, the chief constable must ensure that the scene is secured and that officers involved in the incident are segregated from each other”.

Davies also stated in his report that “officers involved in the incident must not communicate with each other about the incident, except as authorized by the IIO”.

In his report, Oliver told the Vancouver police board that pending possible legislation related to Davies’s recommendations, there is a need to place “appropriate emphasis” on the “importance of segregation and non-communication” in the training of police officers.

In putting forward this proposal, Oliver also referenced the incident involving the Taser-related death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who died after a confrontation with four RCMP officers at the Vancouver International Airport.

The video evidence presented at the inquiry by retired B.C. Court of Appeal judge Thomas Braidwood contradicted written reports filed by the RCMP officers. It has been shown that Dziekanski was tasered multiple times, and that he fell to the ground after the first zap of the stun gun.

“The effectiveness of a police force in a democratic and civil society depends very largely on the respect in which its members are held by the public at large,” Oliver stated.

“That respect can be severely damaged and the reputation of the force largely destroyed in the eyes of the public where it is shown or reasonably suspected that a number of police witnesses have conferred after the incident but before reporting or testifying with a view to producing a sanitized version of the incident in question,” Oliver added.

Police wince at media spotlight as they push for more surveillance cameras

April 11, 2009
The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER, B.C. — Police routinely call the media together for a show-and-tell display of video or pictures of the latest brazen criminal act, but lately, a similar spotlight has been shining on police and the picture isn't pretty.

A Vancouver news photographer summed it up as the "Robert Dziekanski syndrome" after police twisted his arm behind his back and seized his camera as he tried to take shots of a police-involved shooting.

Dziekanski, a Polish immigrant who was behaving erratically, died at Vancouver's airport after RCMP Tasered him several times in October 2007.

The death went mostly unnoticed until it exploded onto the national stage after a bystander's video of the incident showed officers using the weapon on the agitated man armed only with a stapler. A public inquiry which has been further embarrassing to the RCMP is currently underway.

Since Dziekanski's death, New Brunswick police have been chastised by a court for not only arresting a blog photographer, but deleting a picture from his camera.
In December 2007, just weeks after the Dziekanski video was released to the public, Vancouver television cameraman Ricky Tong arrived to the scene of a police-involved shooting minutes after the gunfire and started filming.

He was held after refusing to give up his video and only released after the station sent a live truck to the site so a copy of the video could be made on the spot.
After a fatal police shooting on the street last month, Adam Smolcic, told a Vancouver officer he had taped the incident on his cell phone.

He said he gave the officer his phone and when it was returned, the video had been erased. The phone is now with experts in the United States to see if the video can be extracted from the phone's memory.

Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu has apologized to both Payne and Tong.

"My personal feeling is this is the Robert Dziekanski syndrome," said Payne, a news photographer for more than a decade.

"If that person hadn't of videotaped what happened in Vancouver airport the inquiry probably wouldn't be going on."

Payne said he was threatened with arrest. "And I really thought they were going to do it."

The Vancouver incidents have prompted a formal complaint from the B.C. Civil Liberties Association to the Vancouver Police Board.

Chu has admitted police held on to the photographer's camera an hour longer than they should have.

"The officers were acting in good faith, they were acting in the heat of the moment," he said.

This comes at the same time as the City of Vancouver considers beefing up it's surveillance during the 2010 Winter Olympics with street cameras and the B.C. government invests $1.8 million to put video systems in police cars.

It's an irony not lost on David Eby, of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.

"It's almost like the police only want the cameras turned in one direction. That is on the citizens and not on the police," said Eby.

"But the reality of cellphone cameras and surveillance cameras is that they capture everybody equally."

No one, including police, should have the expectation of privacy in a public place, said Simon Fraser University criminologist Neil Boyd.

He agreed it appears recent police actions indicate they're concerned about public perception.

"Whether this is true or not is a question - but the images do suggest that they're more interested in how police are portrayed than using this material in the course of a police investigation," said Boyd.

After his apology, Chu denied that was the goal of his officers.

"If you want to go on YouTube and search Vancouver Police there's tremendous amounts of video footage and we know that. We're not out there trying to stop people from doing that at all."

The department also sent out a bulletin warning officers they can't take cameras or video equipment from members of the public or the media. It says officers can only take equipment in the instances where there is an arrest, a warrant, or officers have a reasonable concern that the person might destroy the evidence.

Eby said police often use the potential destruction of evidence as an excuse to seize the tape.

"The issue is control of the videotape and who gets to see it and more importantly who doesn't get to see it."

He said he can't think of a member of the public who would videotape a police-involved death and then erase it.

"More likely they would sell it to a media outlet or they would put it up on YouTube. The concern that the police have is that the videotape would be distributed and there would be people criticizing their conduct," he said.

Eby said it was no coincidence that the conflicts between police and media concerned police-involved shootings.

"I think the Dziekanski video really drives home the sensitivity that police have around these things."

All four officers involved in the Taser incident told the inquiry into Dziekanski's death that the man was aggressive and waving a stapler when they arrived on the scene and that the officers had to wrestle him to the airport floor.

All the officers later admitted after watching the video during the inquiry that those statements were incorrect.

Vancouver cops tied for second in Canada in Taser usage

March 16, 2009
Mike Howell, Vancouver Courier

The Vancouver Police Department tied for second with Niagara Regional Police Service for the number of times a Taser was fired in 2007.

Out of eight departments in Canada, including Montreal, officers from Vancouver and Niagara fired the Taser 74 times each. Edmonton topped all departments with 89. Victoria officers fired the Taser 71 times, with Greater Sudbury (55), Halifax (38), Waterloo Regional (33) and Montreal (32) rounding out the eight departments. The report did not include statistics from Toronto, which has one of the largest police departments in Canada.

The statistics are contained in a brief report that goes before the Vancouver Police Board March 18. The report also included statistics for 2008, but only four departments are listed.

The VPD's use of the Taser in 2008 dropped to 27 times from 74 in 2007. Greater Sudbury's force also saw a decrease in 2008, with 23 firings from 55 in 2007. The report lists statistics for two other departments but didn't name them. The report's author, Drazen Manojlovic, said the two unnamed departments haven't publicly released the statistics.

But Manojlovic, who is the VPD's director of planning and research, said the departments-which fired their stun guns 91 and 73 times respectively in 2008-are of comparable size to the VPD.

Manojlovic said it was "unlikely" that the other departments represented in the report had similar decreases to the VPD. He didn't explain the reason for the decrease.

In February, the Courier attempted to determine why the VPD saw such a dramatic decrease in use of the stun gun since 2005. In 2006, the VPD fired the Taser 93 times and 66 in 2005.

Const. Jana McGuinness, a media liaison officer with the department, said the VPD couldn't point to a definitive reason for the decrease. McGuinness also told the Courier in February that there was no directive from Police Chief Jim Chu to curtail the use of the controversial weapon.

Manojlovic noted in his report that his analysis of the statistics "to be blunt, only scratches the surface." Other factors, including how many officers are authorized to use a Taser and departments' policies around Taser use were not included in the report.

"If more comprehensive analysis is required, then the VPD would need to formally canvass comparable police departments later in 2009 to obtain more data, enquire about the factors listed above, and obtain approval to publicly release such information," Manojlovic wrote.

The Canadian Association of Police Boards released a report Feb. 24 on stun guns, or conducted energy weapons. The association agrees in theory that a Taser can be a valuable force option for police.

"However, [the association] would like to see more evidence and discussion to clarify the conditions under which use of [Tasers] does not pose risk of injury or death," the report said.

At last count, the VPD had more than 120 Tasers, which are made in the United States by Taser International. The stun gun resembles a handgun and releases 50,000 volts of electricity through two probes into clothing or skin.

Vancouver police fired tasers 27 times last year

March 16, 2009
By Carlito Pablo, straight.com

Vancouver police officers fired their tasers 27 times in 2008, according to a report to the Vancouver police board.

These “Taser applications” were 64 percent lower than the 74 times that stun guns were used by members of the Vancouver Police Department in 2007, stated the same report prepared by the VPD’s planning, research, and audit section.

No explanation of why taser use dropped was provided.

The report, on the agenda for the police board’s Wednesday (March 18) meeting, noted that it is “unlikely that other jurisdictions experienced such a similar decrease”, but then again no explanation for that statement was offered.

It recalled that last year, Vancouver police responded to about 189,000 “dispatched calls for service”, of which 41,000 were “combined violent and property crimes”.

“It is worth pointing out that, in this context of volume of work, the VPD used a Taser, on average, only twice a month,” the report stated.

Based on the 2008 data cited by the report, police in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, fired tasers 23 times. Greater Sudbury has a population of about 162,000.

The report said that in comparison to Greater Sudbury, it is “significant” that VPD members used tasers only four more times while policing a city with a population of over 611,000.

Robertson backpedals on taser moratorium

January 22, 2009
Mike Howell, Vancouver Courier

Mayor Gregor Robertson has again shifted his position on whether the Vancouver Police Department should continue to use Tasers.

Robertson, who is chair of the Vancouver Police Board, said Wednesday he won't ask board members to vote for a moratorium on the weapon. "As a member of the police board with one tie-breaking vote, I don't have the direct call on this," Robertson told the Courier after a police board meeting at the Cambie Street police station. "It's an operational decision for the chief [Jim Chu] to make, and I respect that."

But the mayor said his "personal preference" would be that the VPD stop using Tasers until the Braidwood inquiry into the use of stun guns releases a report later this year. "We should be more precautionary until we know definitively that this is a safe tool," he added.

The inquiry is examining the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport Oct. 14, 2007. RCMP fired a Taser several times at Dziekanski, who died at the scene.

During Robertson's campaign to become mayor, he called for a moratorium on the VPD's use of Tasers. After his first police board meeting in December, Robertson backed off his request for a moratorium. At the time, he pointed to B.C. Solicitor General John van Dongen's directive in December to have all municipal police forces pull selected stun guns from service.

Robertson said then that "hopefully there's more robust efforts to ensure that indeed all the equipment is safe in lieu of a moratorium." Three VPD officers made a presentation Wednesday to the police board on the Taser. They spoke about what they argued was the weapon's effectiveness in arresting people who otherwise would have to be tackled, struck with a baton or shot with a gun.

VPD officers fired the Taser 27 times in 2008 and pointed it 36 times at suspects who surrendered rather than be zapped by the high-voltage weapon. The VPD's use of the weapon in 2008 was markedly lower than in 2007 (74 times), 2006 (93) and in 2005 (66). No reason was provided for the decrease.

Const. Tammy Hammell told a story about getting called to an incident where a person was "running around the West End with a hatchet."

When aiming a Taser, it shines a little red laser dot on the target. In the case in the West End, the man surrendered after he noticed the dot shining on his chest, Hammell said.

"The person dropped the hatchet and it was done-the situation was under control, and that person is out enjoying life today," she said.

The officers also pointed to a study conducted by the American College of Emergency Physicians that concluded serious injuries from a Taser are extremely rare. The three-year study, which was released Jan. 15, found that 492 of 1,201 criminal suspects suffered mild injuries-mostly superficial puncture wounds-when hit with a Taser.

Only three "significant injuries" were recorded. Two suffered head injuries from a fall and the third suffered "a rapid breakdown" of muscle tissue.

"These weapons appear to be very safe, especially when compared to other options police have for subduing violent or combative suspects," wrote study author Dr. William P. Bozeman of Wake Forest University in North Carolina. "That is not to say that injuries and deaths are impossible. Police and medical personnel need to be aware of the potential for serious injury and look for evidence that a person subdued by a Taser has been hurt."

A Taser, which is a brand name, resembles a handgun and releases 50,000 volts of electricity through two probes into clothing or skin.

Vancouver Mayor considers calling for moratorium on taser use

December 12, 2008
Catherine Rolfsen, Vancouver Sun

VANCOUVER - Mayor Gregor Robertson said Thursday he is considering calling for a moratorium on the use of Tasers by Vancouver police. His comment came the same day that CTV BC reported that three RCMP officers involved in the Tasering of Robert Dziekanski will not be charged. B.C.'s criminal justice branch is expected to make the announcement at a news conference today.

However, RCMP Cpl. Dale Carr of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said Thursday he wasn't aware of what conclusion the Crown had reached on the case.

Robertson's statement about Taser use potentially pits him against Vancouver's police chief and the president of the police union, who both say the weapon is a valuable tool. "I am concerned about Taser use, and I am looking at calling for a moratorium," Robertson told The Vancouver Sun in an e-mail interview.

Robertson, who as mayor is also the chair of the Vancouver police board, said he'll wait for a planned public presentation from the Vancouver police department on Tasers at a January police board meeting before he makes a decision. "I'm also very interested in hearing the recommendations from the Braidwood Commission," he said, referring to the inquiry by retired judge Thomas Braidwood into the use of the weapon and the death of Dziekanski last year at Vancouver International Airport shortly after he was Tasered by RCMP officers.

During his election campaign, Robertson called for a moratorium on Taser use until the weapon can be proven safe.

His remarks Thursday come amidst news the Vancouver police department has pulled more than a third of its Tasers after a media report that one model of the devices generated a higher voltage than the manufacturer's specifications.

Robertson's suggestion of a moratorium wasn't well-received by the president of the Vancouver Police Union. "As far as I'm aware, he hasn't been involved in policing in any significant way," said Tom Stamatakis. "I think he needs to be a little bit more measured in the positions he takes and wait until he fully understands all of the issues surrounding the Taser before he would take a position like that." Stamatakis said the weapon is a "vital tool" that every police officer should have, given the right training.

Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu also said the Taser is an important piece in the police arsenal. "[It] helps the safety of the public, it increases the level of safety for the subjects, bystanders as well as police officers," he said.

In a submission to the Braidwood inquiry this spring, Chu said Vancouver police deployed Tasers 100 times in 2007, although about 25,000 people are arrested each year. "We will always be looking at information that arises, and when that information arises, we will examine it, have our experts study it and if that requires us to change some deployment policies then we will do that," Chu said.

Chu said it's unclear whether Robertson even has a say over a potential moratorium. It depends on whether the use of Tasers is determined to be a matter of policy or governance - in which case it is under the police board's jurisdiction - or an operational issue, which is dealt with by the police chief, Chu said. Even if the issue is determined to be under the board's authority, Robertson's powers are limited to persuasion or one vote in the event of a split decision.

Earlier this week, Solicitor-General John van Dongen ordered B.C.'s municipal police forces to pull all Tasers acquired before Jan. 1, 2006 out of service, following a CBC/Radio Canada investigation that revealed some older Tasers generated electrical currents that were more powerful than indicated by the manufacturer.

He also called for provincial standards for testing the weapons.

Vancouver Police Board fails to block lawsuit over taser-related death

April 28, 2008
Canadian Press

VANCOUVER — The B.C. Court of Appeal has dismissed a bid by the Vancouver Police Board to block a compensation suit related to the death of a man who was jolted with a Taser almost four years ago. Robert Bagnell died in police custody in June of 2004 during an altercation with Vancouver police. His family is suing the Police Board under the Family Compensation Act, claiming the Board was negligent in supplying police officers with Tasers, and failed to ensure the stun guns were independently tested and properly maintained. The Board attempted to have the suit dismissed, claiming it had no reasonable chance to succeed, and the city of Vancouver should be the target of any suit. But a lower court rejected the argument, and the B.C. Court of Appeal has upheld that ruling. The appeal court says it’s not obvious that the claim against the Police Board would fail, and the issue should be left to be argued during a trial.

See the Reasons for Judgment

Judge denies attempt to dismiss taser lawsuit

December 20, 2006
PETTI FONG, Globe & Mail

Vancouver -- A B.C. Supreme Court ruling has struck down an attempt by the Vancouver Police Board to dismiss a lawsuit against police by the family of a man who died in custody after being shot with a taser gun.

The family of Robert Bagnell, who died on June 23, 2004, are suing the board claiming the force was negligent in purchasing and supplying officers with tasers.

The police board argued that its functions are purely legislative and there is insufficient proximity between the board and members of the public whose family members are harmed by individual police officers using tasers.

Justice Catherine Wedge said she does not accept the board's argument that its role is similar to a municipality and dismissed the police board, which is chaired by Mayor Sam Sullivan, to extricate itself from the lawsuit.