Edmonton Police Watch

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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EDMONTON JOURNAL

Whyte Avenue was a powder keg of full bars, packed sidewalks and Stanley Cup playoff excitement the night Insp. Chris Caughell ordered Edmonton police officers to stop troublemakers before they even had a chance to make trouble.

“History had shown that if (the people gathered) were allowed to go unchecked, there would certainly be some infractions,” Caughell, now retired, said this morning at a police disciplinary hearing. “The idea is to prevent the disorder, it’s not to react to it after … . There was significant danger, danger that doesn’t exist in your general duties.”

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CBC NEWS

Using a Taser to subdue a man at an Edmonton toy store on Boxing Day likely averted a standoff, police Chief Mike Boyd said.

Officers used the stun gun on a man after he ran into the Toys “R” Us store on Gateway Boulevard wielding a knife.

The incident began at a nearby motel when police tried to arrest a 39-year-old man on a Canada-wide warrant.

The man gave police a false name but he didn’t realize that that name also had outstanding warrants. When he realized his mistake, he bolted from police and ran across a busy highway toward the toy store packed with holiday shoppers.

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EDMONTON JOURNAL

EDMONTON - An Edmonton police officer received a 90-hour suspension without pay and a reprimand Thursday after having three disciplinary counts proven against him.

Const. Jan Cichon, 55, was charged with neglect of duty, excessive force and insubordination in connection with an Aug. 20, 2005 incident.

Cichon was working at the Norwood community police station that day when Scott Kurie and his friends knocked on the door. Amidst a large crowd leaving an Edmonton Eskimo game, Kurie told Cichon his friend had been assaulted and needed help.

Cichon told them to leave because the station was closed, Kurie told the hearing in November.

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EDMONTON JOURNAL

EDMONTON - Alberta’s information and privacy commissioner has ordered the Edmonton Police Service to tell a man exactly how many times they ran his name through the CPIC national police database.

The man, whose identity could not be released, asked the EPS in July 2005 for the number of times they ran his name through the computerized system in the past 10 years, privacy commissioner Frank Work said in the order dated Dec. 11, 2007. Later that year, the police sent the man a chart with dates and times his name had been searched. The man then asked for a review of the police response and for the reasons they had used his personal information, but the police refused, citing legislation that protects law enforcement activities.

The order says Work met with police in a closed meeting to discuss the case, but did not agree with their arguments as to why they investigated the man. He also did not agree that police disclosure on the matter could have harmed a law enforcement issue, because the police only gave him “hypothetical situations.”

The commissioner is still awaiting submissions from both parties on whether the police had the authority to use the man’s personal information in the first place.

The police were given 50 days to let the man know if there were other records. EPS had no comment.

EDMONTON SUN

City cops were ordered yesterday by the privacy commissioner to release portions of a training video, entitled EPS Canine Unit: Life’s Short, Bite Hard.

The Edmonton Police Service refused to release the video about a year ago when the Criminal Trial Lawyers’ Association asked for it.

Police argued that it depicted tactics and strategies that might be classified as “investigative techniques and procedures in law enforcement.”

This forced the lawyers’ group to use the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to obtain a copy of the video.

Teresa Cunningham, an adjudicator with the privacy commissioner’s office, ruled that some portions of the video could be released without any harm to law enforcement.

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EDMONTON SUN

A man who complained a police officer kicked and pepper-sprayed him when he asked for help for an injured friend two years ago was making exaggerated claims, the cop’s defence said today.

Staff Sgt. Bill Newton, who is representing Const. Jan Cichon at a police disciplinary hearing, said the man, Scott Kurie, took a fighting stance when he approached the Norwood community police station on Aug. 20, 2005.

At the time, large crowds were leaving an Eskimos game, and Cichon, a veteran officer, feared Kurie was about to start a riot.

Kurie’s friend, Craig Hill, had earlier been hurt during a dispute with another group as the pair, who had been drinking, left the game with two others.

Kurie claims that when he knocked on the police station door to get help, Cichon told him to go away. Kurie kept knocking, however, and says the officer proceeded to kick him and pepper-spray him three times. The station was closed at the time, the hearing heard.

Cichon faces charges of neglect of duty, unlawful or unnecessary use of authority and insubordination for allegedly refusing to give his name or badge number to Kurie.

In his final arguments in the case, Newton said Cichon pepper-sprayed and kicked Kurie only once in order to stun him.

He also said inconsistent testimony from Kurie and his three friends undermined their claims.

The officer presenting the case for Edmonton police, however, questioned why, if Kurie and his friends were threatening a riot, Cichon didn’t call for help from a second officer in the station. The four friends, he said, deserved help from the officer.

EDMONTON SUN

A city man is suing the Edmonton Police Service after claiming an officer broke his ribs and then told him to stop whining and called him a wimp when he sought help.

In a $74,000 lawsuit against Const. Adam Woodburn and former acting police Chief Darryl da Costa, Danniel Kenneth Towpich alleges he was illegally detained and arrested and Woodburn used excessive force on him.

According to a statement of claim filed earlier this month, Towpich alleges he was driving to the downtown Greyhound bus terminal about 2 p.m. on Nov. 3, 2005, and had only minutes to get there to catch a bus to Grande Prairie.

Towpich claims he was on 111 Street and, as he approached 104 Avenue, he began to stop, slid a little past the stop line and then stopped. He then turned east.

Shortly after Towpich turned onto 104 Avenue, a police cruiser pulled in behind him with its flashers activated.

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EDMONTON JOURNAL

EDMONTON - Two Edmonton constables face a police disciplinary hearing for firing a Taser in 2004 at a man after he had surrendered and lay flat on the pavement.

Hector Jara, then 21, was driving a stolen car and was high on methamphetamine when he led police on a 27-kilometre chase through north Edmonton.

Police eventually stopped the car with spike belts near St. Albert Trail, but Jara got out and ran. Then he stopped and lay on the ground.

Constables Ryan Sparreboom and Darryl Fox were with four other officers when they surrounded Jara.

According to court records, one officer kicked Jara in the head, another pinned him with his knee, and then Sparreboom and Fox each fired their Tasers.

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CBC NEWS

Premier Ed Stelmach is considering a review of how police in Alberta use Tasers after the public release of a video that shows officers using a Taser on a distraught man at the Vancouver airport.

Robert Dziekanski, 40, died minutes after being zapped by a Taser on Oct. 14. The Polish man who spoke no English was reported to be acting strangely after spending 10 hours in a secure area, trying to connect with his mother.

On Thursday in the legislature, Alberta NDP Leader Brian Mason asked the premier for a provincial review into Taser use, saying at least five Albertans have been severely injured or died after being shot with a Taser by police.

“This is not a political issue,” said Mason. “This is a matter of ensuring the safety of our citizens and providing clear guidelines to the police so they know when to use Tasers and when not.”

In response, Stelmach said, “We’ll undertake that with the justice minister and solicitor general to see if we can look at the rules, review them and bring forward to the assembly the results.”

The Calgary Police Service reported no problems since it started using Tasers in 2005.

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