Edmonton Police Watch

EDMONTON SUN

A criminal probe into allegations Edmonton police dropped off homeless people in a north-end neighbourhood is being referred to Alberta Justice.

The 12-month investigation by the RCMP and Edmonton commercial crime section has been completed and was forwarded Thursday to Alberta Justice’s special prosecutions branch in Calgary for a review of the evidence.

There is no word if charges are being contemplated at this time.

The allegations stem from complaints going back to May 20, 2005, when officers allegedly let a group of nine people out of a police van near 127 Avenue and 80 Street after they had been picked up on Whyte Avenue for public drunkenness.

It’s alleged the nine aboriginal people were in the van - meant to hold six - for about two hours.

It is also alleged it was hot in the van and officers were mocking the prisoners. According to Environment Canada, the high temperature that day was 19.3 C.

The investigation also looked into a similar incident that occurred in October 2006.

The RCMP began their investigation in February 2007. They are now awaiting the results of the Alberta Justice review.

EDMONTON JOURNAL

EDMONTON - A 55-second phone call that took place four years ago - and was mostly forgotten until this morning - was reason enough for Supt. Mark Logar to step down as judge of a police disciplinary hearing.

“For the sake of the integrity of the process, I need to step away,” Logar said at a misconduct hearing for Det. James Elkow.

“You simply cannot be a witness and preside at the same time. … The issue itself is clear. We need to be concerned about the integrity and credibility of the process.”

Elkow faces one internal charge of unlawful or unnecessary exercise of authority in connection to a March 1, 2004 incident.

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EDMONTON/630 CHED

There’s been a major change in the way Edmonton police works with pawn shops.

In a ruling released this afternoon, the Information and Privacy Commissioner has ordered the City of Edmonton and the Edmonton Police Service to stop the collection of information from Pawnshops and Second Hand Stores.

City council in 2005, required pawnshops and second hand stores to upload information collected by clients to a database maintained by a private company under contract with the City of Edmonton.

That immediately stops, and Information and Privacy Commissioner Frank Work has also ordered that the data base be destroyed.

Mayor Stephen Mandel says the city will go along with the ruling …

“What ever we’ve been obligated to do we’ll do. Our administration will give us a report back on the ramifications are, but at this point in time I’ve heard there’s been a decision that came down and we’ll have to abide by those decisions.”

It’s a big hit in ward three, where Councilor Ed Gibbons can’t believe there’s something wrong with collecting info on a computer …

“So we’ll be going back to manual? That’s a pre-historic era. My that’s absolutely unreal”

The city has fifty days to consider an appeal.

City manager Al Maurer says the city will use that time to “correct the actions and we’ll do that”. (sj, ccg)

EDMONTON JOURNAL

EDMONTON - There was no “causal” connection between a 33-year-old man being Tasered on Christmas Eve two years ago and dying soon after, an inquiry judge has ruled.

On Dec. 24, 2005, Alessandro Fiacco was seen and heard thrashing and screaming in the streets of McKernan neighbourhood, complaining of bugs and snakes crawling over his skin.

One of two Edmonton police officers who arrived on the scene shot Fiacco shot three times with a Taser in 17 seconds. Nearly half an hour later, when Fiacco was in an ambulance on the way to the University of Alberta Hospital, he went into cardiac arrest and died.

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EDMONTON JOURNAL

A civil suit against a veteran police officer involved in a fiery fatal crash on Yellowhead Trail in 2001 has been settled out of court.

The horrific crash between a police car driven by Const. Ken Brander and a Ford Tempo killed Giovanni Aleman, 7, and seriously burned his younger brother, Jonathan.

The details of the settlement are confidential. But a statement of claim filed in 2001 by Edmonton lawyer Melanie Watson on behalf of Jonathan and his mother, Gloria Ramirez, was seeking $5 million on behalf of the boy, and $200,000 for Ramirez, along with what other costs the court awarded.

The Ramirez family is expected to comment Wednesday.

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EDMONTON JOURNAL

EDMONTON - The province’s privacy commissioner has upheld the decision by city police to withhold information related to its investigation of how The Journal obtained a recording of police broadcasts on the night of the Overtime stakeout.

On the night of an alleged police sting operation at the Overtime Boiler and Taproom in 2004, officers involved in the stakeout for impaired drivers were talking extensively over the police radio.

The Journal obtained a recording of many of these conversations, which formed the basis of articles related to the operation.

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EDMONTON JOURNAL

EDMONTON - Throwing a handcuffed woman to the pavement where she landed face-first was a reasonable course of action under the circumstances, an Edmonton constable told a police disciplinary hearing today.

Const. Shane Connor testified this afternoon that he was aware that Kristin Wilson was handcuffed and there was no way for her to stop her fall, but “at the time, I wasn’t considering this,” he said.

“Depending on my movements, or her movements, she may have fallen on her shoulder or the side of her head, but instead she fell on her face … In hindsight, I wish that I would have considered that,” he said.

Connor faces two charges of professional misconduct for using inappropriate force and profanity when he arrested Wilson, 21, in the early hours of June 18, 2006, during Stanley Cup playoffs celebrations on Whyte Avenue.

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EDMONTON SUN

An Edmonton police officer says he used reasonable force when he struck a handcuffed woman who was intoxicated and unruly during a near riot following a 2006 NHL playoff game.

Const. Shane Connor, 28, faces charges of discreditable conduct for striking Kristen Wilson on the night of June 17 and for swearing at her.

Connor told a disciplinary hearing that officers feared for their safety as thousands of people spilled out of bars along the city’s trendy bar strip each night after Edmonton Oilers games.

He says Wilson, who was one of 400 people arrested that night, continually swore at officers as she was escorted to a police bus.

Connor says he hit Wilson with what police call a head stun when she broke away from his grasp. Wilson fell to the ground after she was hit, cutting her face on the pavement.

EDMONTON JOURNAL

Under arrest, hands tied behind her back, Kristin Wilson was being herded toward a bus during wild celebrations on Whyte Avenue 18 months ago when she heard someone say, “Get on the f…ing bus.”

“I turned around and said, ‘F… you,’ ” Wilson testified Tuesday at a police disciplinary hearing where the officer who arrested her faces two charges.

She said she turned toward the officer on her left and felt his grip on her arm tightening. She said she never tried to get away or spit at the officer.

The next thing she remembers, Wilson said, is the officer’s black glove coming at her face. She closed her eyes.

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THE CANADIAN PRESS

EDMONTON - An Edmonton Oilers fan arrested at street celebrations during the 2006 NHL playoffs described Tuesday how she woke up, sobbing and with blood running down her face, on a police bus after being hit and knocked to the ground by an officer.

Kristin Wilson was testifying at a police disciplinary hearing into the officer’s conduct June 17, 2006, as hundreds of people celebrated on Whyte Avenue after the Oilers won the sixth game of the Stanley Cup final.

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