Police officers plead not guilty in beating of delivery man
Last Updated: Friday, March 27, 2009 | 8:20 PM PT
CBC News
Two police officers charged with assault and robbery in connection with the January beating of a newspaper delivery man in downtown Vancouver have pleaded not guilty.
The pleas were entered in B.C. provincial court on Friday morning.
Const. Jeff Klassen of New Westminster Police was charged with one count of assault, while Const. Griffin Gillan of West Vancouver Police was charged with one count of robbery.
The charges stem from an incident in January, when 47-year-old Phil Khan alleges he was beaten and robbed of $200 by three police officers. The attack took place on the 600-block of Burrard Street, outside a hotel where Khan was making a delivery.
Khan has said the men smelled of alcohol and uttered racial slurs when they launched the unprovoked attack on him.
A third officer who was present the night of the incident, a member of Delta Police, was not charged, as investigators concluded he tried to stop the attack.
That officer is expected to testify against his colleagues at trial.
The lawyer representing Klassen and Gillan asked the judge on Friday for a fall court date. He was told, however, it could be mid-to-late spring next year before the men stand trial.
The delay is because police have informed the courts they will be unavailable for the weeks before, during and after the Olympics. Several of the Crown’s 16 planned witnesses are police officers.
Klassen and Gillan did not appear in court on Friday.
