EDMONTON JOURNAL
Knocked down, hauled away while
taking photos of celebrations
MIKE S A DAVA
Exactly a year has elapsed since 67-year-old Brian Fish was knocked down by police, possibly Tasered and then arrested and hauled off for taking pictures of police tactics during the Stanley Cup celebrations on Whyte Avenue.
But little has happened to give him any sense of closure about the incident.
Fish, who filed a complaint to police, is still waiting to hear from the Calgary Crown prosecutor’s office whether charges will be filed against the two female constables he alleges manhandled him as crowds assembled on Whyte Avenue following the Oilers’ victory in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals.
On that night 386 people were arrested, with only two charges being laid.
To Fish, a lawyer, this delay of justice is justice denied.
“I think there is a hope that if you delay things long enough they will just go away,” he said Saturday.
“I’m not going to let it go away and I suspect it will go on for a few years before it is resolved.”
He thinks the Crown could be having a difficult time with the case partly because his wife, Wanda Fish, who was a witness, is a former prosecutor and a vicepresident of the Legal Aid Society.
Fish said he was knocked down for taking a picture, and he believes he was Tasered because he blacked out for a short time. He was hauled away when he refused to give his name and said he saw no reason to because he shouldn’t have been arrested.
Kristin Wilson isn’t surprised either by the length of time — her lawyer told her to be prepared for a drawn-out process.
Wilson’s picture was all over the front page after the handcuffed young woman was captured on camera by a Journal photographer being delivered a stun blow by Const. Shane Connor, then pushed down to the pavement.
More has happened in her case than Fish’s. Police decided not to charge Connor after a Calgary Crown prosecutor felt a conviction would be unlikely.
Connor faces a disciplinary hearing that has been tentatively set for July 24.
Wilson, who has filed a $6-million statement of claim against police, said in an interview from Vernon, B.C., she still has a scar on her lip despite some cosmetic surgery. She also had a tooth removed and her lawsuit claimed numerous soft tissue injuries, back pain, headaches and psychological problems.
Wilson, 21, who has been working in a bakery, still has some hopes that something will come out of the internal disciplinary hearing.
“What he did was wrong and he didn’t take any responsibility for any of it,” she said. “There are pictures proving what he did, and it’s not like he can lie.”
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