Death in custody, the case histories

To serve and protect: It's the main mission of every police man and woman in Canada. So when a civilian dies at the hands of an officer, it sparks public outrage and media scrutiny.

With good reason. While each police member is burdened with a hefty responsibility and routinely faces danger, they are, in turn, entrusted with extraordinary power by ordinary citizens.

Most Canadians think highly of police officers — about 60 per cent believe their local force treats people fairly, according to a 2004 Statistics Canada survey. But some high-profile civilian deaths involving police have cast a dark shadow on the proud police uniform.

This week in Vancouver, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association held a public forum scrutinizing the conundrum of having police investigate themselves. The discussion comes in the wake of four police-involved deaths during August in B.C. It was also triggered by a string of high-profile cases over the past few years, where the officers involved were not forthcoming during the subsequent investigation.

In Ontario, however, every time an officer is involved in a serious injury or death, the matter is investigated by a panel of civilians and former police officers called the Special Investigations Unit (SIU). While it provides another layer of accountability, the system has its share of critics.

In June, for example, Ontario ombudsman Andre Marin launched a systemic investigation into the SIU to examine its "pro-police" bias, he told CBC Radio. However, it's much better than the archaic system employed in B.C., said Marin, a speaker at the B.C. Civil Liberties Association forum.

"The debate is on a different level," Marin said. "It's a little bit like we're wondering in Ontario to go from a gas-powered car to a hybrid, while [B.C. is] still wondering whether to move from the horse-drawn cart to cars."

Marin said having a civilian body investigate officers would reinstate confidence in the police force, confidence that has eroded over the years.

From Stonechild to now

One example that no doubt shook the public's faith in police is the case of Neil Stonechild. In 1990, the aboriginal teen's frozen body was found on the outskirts of Saskatoon five days after a friend saw him arrested by police. It was the last time he was seen alive. The Saskatoon Police Service, however, said Stonechild's death was an accident and the two officers denied having any contact with Stonechild. A brief internal investigation concluded there was no foul play. But an inquiry called about 14 years later found that the two constables did indeed encounter Stonechild, and that the RCMP did a shoddy investigation.

Before that, there was J.J. Harper. On March 9, 1988, the young native leader was stopped by Winnipeg police, who mistook him for a car thief. After a scuffle, Harper was shot and killed. The Firearms Review Board of Inquiry concluded that the police revolver fired accidentally. A later inquiry exonerated the officer involved, Const. Robert Cross. But after a public outcry, in 1992 the Law Enforcement Review Agency re-examined the case and found Cross guilty of using excessive force and abusing his authority.

When civilians are killed by police today, a familiar pattern seems to ensue, critics say. There is a brief internal investigation and few or no charges laid. It is often the victims' families and activists who push for justice and the facts to come to light.

"I think there's a lot of people in the same situation that we are in now: not getting the proper answers, or [feeling] the police have not been accountable for their actions," said Sylvia Fee, whose brother Gerald Chenery was shot by Vancouver police in the city's Downtown Eastside district on Boxing Day in 2004. She was one of eight speakers at the civil liberties association's forum at the University of British Columbia.

She said the current system of police accountability is not holding police officers to a standard of justice that they hold all other citizens to.

"They go back to work right after and there's no restitution for the families or the victims," she told CBC Radio. "And it seems like the police think that they can sweep it under a rug and continue on with their lives. But the fact is that somebody has lost a life, there are family members that are still affected. And it's about time that the system changes."

The recent cases

Wilfred Asham

Moments after Wilfred Asham was placed in a holding room at the Public Safety Building in Winnipeg on Sept. 2, 2007, police realized the 19-year-old was not breathing. He had been arrested during an investigation into a stolen vehicle in the Weston area of the city. When officers noticed Asham's condition, they performed CPR and took him to a hospital, where he died. An initial autopsy found no obvious cause of death.

Asham's family said they want to file a complaint with the Law Enforcement Review Agency, which handles complaints against on-duty officers. They are also calling for a second, independent autopsy. They claim that Asham's body had bruising, as well as swelling around his right eye, and that his nose was now straight — despite being crooked for the past two years. Manitoba's chief medical examiner replied that some changes to Asham's body could have stemmed from the autopsy.

Paul Boyd

On Aug. 13, 2007, Paul Boyd was shot to death on a busy urban street by Vancouver police. The 39-year-old man was swinging a heavy chain and padlock at officers trying to arrest him, when as many as many as eight shots were fired at Boyd by police, according to witnesses.

The family of Boyd, a successful animator, said that he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder in his mid-20s and suffered from paranoid delusions, and that he probably experienced one on that fatal night. The Vancouver Police Department's professional standards department is conducting an internal investigation, and the RCMP's Integrated Homicide Investigation team is overseeing the probe. The B.C. Civil Liberties Association has also recently lodged a complaint to the B.C. Police Complaint Commissioner on Boyd's behalf.

Ian Bush

Ian Bush was shot in the back of the head inside the RCMP detachment in Houston, B.C., on Oct. 29, 2005, just 20 minutes after the 19-year-old was arrested for sipping an open can of beer outside a hockey arena and using a false name. Const. Paul Koester, a 28-year-old rookie officer, said he was forced to shoot Bush in self-defence because the young mill worker attacked him and began choking him. The two were alone in the RCMP interview room at the time.

Bush's family filed a lawsuit against the RCMP. His mother, Linda, said her son was not a violent person and questioned how Const. Koester could have shot him from behind if he was being attacked. In May and June, at a coroner's inquest, the five-person jury recommended that no officer be left alone with a suspect until they are placed in a cell, and that audio-video recording equipment be mandatory in interview rooms. Bush's mother was disappointed that the jury did not call for an independent body to investigate the RCMP, and that it did not bar the force from investigating itself.

Kevin Geldart

On May 5, 2005, Kevin Geldart wandered away from the psychiatric unit of Moncton Hospital in New Brunswick and entered a downtown bar. Hours later, Geldart was killed by police who Tasered him as many as three times trying to subdue him. The shock weapons can deliver up to 50,000 volts of electricity.

The six-foot-six, 300-pound man, who had bipolar disorder, had been combative and violent, police said. It took four officers to wrestle Geldart down, tie his feet and cuff him. It was then that they realized he was no longer breathing. He was pronounced dead upon arrival at a hospital.

A coroner's inquest into Geldart's death was launched on Feb. 21, 2007. After the eight-day probe, the five-member jury ruled that his death was accidental, caused by "excited delirium." It's a condition where a mentally ill person is acutely agitated, violent, sweating profusely and shows insensitivity to pain. The jury recommended that police officers receive more training on Taser use. As well, chief coroner Diane Kelly suggested that the province consider bringing in an independent agency to investigate deaths in custody.

Matthew Dumas

Police were chasing Matthew Dumas through the streets in Winnipeg's north end when they shot and killed him on Jan. 31, 2005. Dumas, an aboriginal teenager, was a suspect in a robbery and is alleged to have pulled out a weapon on the pursuing officers, whereupon the police opened fire when he refused to drop the weapon. It was later determined that the "weapon" was a screwdriver. Although the officer involved was Métis, the shooting prompted cries of racism.

Winnipeg police Chief Jack Ewatski asked the Calgary police force to investigate the incident. The external review, which was released on Aug. 9, 2006, cleared the Winnipeg force of any wrongdoing. A second report, by the Ontario Crown Attorney's Office, which reviewed the case at Manitoba's request, concluded that the Calgary police force report was accurate.

Kevin St. Arnaud

Just before Christmas 2004, police shot Kevin St. Arnaud three times, suspecting his involvement in a drugstore robbery in Vanderhoof, B.C. Const. Ryan Sheremetta, the young officer who fired at St. Arnaud, said he shot in self-defence. Sheremetta was not charged. When he arrived at the pharmacy, Sheremetta said, St. Arnaud reached for his pocket and uttered, "You're gonna have to shoot me." Sheremetta said he then slipped and fell onto his back and fired up at St. Arnaud. However, forensic evidence and witnesses did not back up his story. One witness was Sheremetta's own partner, Colleen Erickson. She said her partner fired while standing up, feet apart, in a police shooting stance. St. Arnaud was not armed.

A coroner's inquest was held in January 2007, during which the jury heard that St. Arnaud was highly intoxicated. In May 2007, James Lévêque of the Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP said their probe into St. Arnaud's death was inadequate. The RCMP must now investigate its own investigation and report back to the commission.

Jeffrey Reodica

Jeffrey Reodica was one of a group of teens chasing another group through a Scarborough, Ont., neighbourhood on May 21, 2004, when he was shot by a plainclothes officer, Det. Dan Belanger, who arrived in an unmarked car. Reodica was brain dead three days later.

Officers testified that Reodica, 17, lunged forward toward police with a knife before being shot. The Toronto police's Special Investigations Unit probed the incident and cleared Belanger. The Reodica family, however, was not satisfied with the probe and asked why the diminutive 17-year-old — who stood five-foot-three — was shot and not arrested. As well, they questioned whether the teen knew that Belanger and his partner, Allan Love, were police officers.

The four-person jury at the coroner's inquest into the shooting recommended ways to identify plainclothes officers, such as equipping unmarked vehicles with sirens. However, the inquest's jury members could not revisit the SIU's ruling, as the family sought.