Edmonton Police Watch

EDMONTON SUN

A city law professor is calling for a moratorium on stun-gun use following a series of deadly incidents.

That’s despite assurances from doctors at a mental health conference that there is no certain link.

“It is no longer enough to say, ‘Oh, we’re not sure (stun guns) are safe, but we’ll still use them,” said Sanjeev Anand of the University of Alberta.

A conference of mental-health professionals held earlier this week in Edmonton probed the danger for mentally-ill suspects subject to being zapped. Dr. Dorothy Cotton said: “… It’d be safe to say in situations involving Tasers and excited delirium, it’s just not known. We’re just not there yet.”

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EDMONTON JOURNAL

EDMONTON – Testifying in his own defence at a disciplinary hearing today, an Edmonton police officer denied ever telling a man he would “end him” after arresting him outside a bar in November 2004.

“I don’t even speak in that vocabulary,” Const. Kenneth Hawrylenko said at the proceeding.

Complainant Joseph Turvey told the hearing he distinctly recalls Hawrylenko threatening to “end him” after Turvey kicked Hawrylenko in the arm. Turvey was handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser when he kicked the officer, who was seated in the driver’s seat. After being kicked, Hawrylenko said, he got out of the driver’s seat and opened the passenger door of the car.

“He grabbed my face and pushed it into the seat and said ‘If you ever do that I will end you,’ ” Turvey said.

Hawrylenko said he did grab Turvey and speak to him, but that he only told the man not to kick him again.

Supt. Mark Logar, the presiding officer, will give his decision on the matter later this month.

EDMONTON JOURNAL

EDMONTON – An Edmonton police officer facing charges of deceit and neglect of duty resigned Friday, effective immediately, during a police disciplinary hearing.

The charges against Cst. Janelle Brown stemmed from an alleged credit-card fraud case dating to September 2005, in which she was the investigating officer. Brown originally pleaded not guilty to the charges in July, but changed her plea Friday during the hearing when an agreed statement of facts was entered into evidence as an exhibit.

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CBC NEWS

Alberta’s solicitor general defended the use of stun guns by the province’s police forces, Thursday.

“I believe the Taser is a tool that’s been used very effectively and in a lot of cases has prevented death,” Fred Lindsay said.

“These deaths that have occurred, whether it’s because of excited delirium or the use of the Taser, I haven’t seen a lot of evidence yet come forward that confirms at the end of the investigation that it was caused by the voltage that was put into the person’s body by the Taser.”

Lindsay said until there is conclusive evidence that stun guns are dangerous, police will be able to use them.

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CANWEST NEWS SERVICE

EDMONTON – The second time police deployed the Taser, Trevor Grimolfson warned them: “You’re going to piss me off.”

The owner of Dan’s Pawnshop watched the tattooed man lift his hands to his chest, as though he was trying to pull the Taser wires out. Several minutes later, police were finally able to handcuff Grimolfson.

“I don’t think you could reason with the guy,” said Danny, who did not want his last name printed. “Anyone that crossed his path would have been killed.”
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When Grimolfson first entered the west-end shop, he stood in the doorway and made kicking motions in the air. He asked for water. Danny’s father brought a glass, thinking it might calm him. Grimolfson threatened the older man with a tanto – a martial arts weapon – and threw the glass at his head. That’s when Danny called the police.

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The Canadian Press

October 29, 2008 at 10:05 PM EST

EDMONTON — The family of a man who died Wednesday after Edmonton police zapped him twice with a taser stun gun is in shock and questioning why the weapon was used.

“Our whole family is in shock,” said Melissa Bell, a relative of Trevor Grimolfson, who family and friends have identified as the dead man.

“You see a news report and you see that police have tasered your cousin. We are sad and very angry.”

Witnesses say a man entered a pawn shop Wednesday morning in a gritty section of Edmonton’s west end and began assaulting a man inside.

“It sounded like a tractor-trailer was going through the place,” said Michelle Furoy, who works at a liquor store across the street from the pawn shop.

“You could just hear it getting trashed.”

Mr. Furoy said when police went into the shop, she heard clicking sounds of what she thought was a taser, but the commotion didn’t stop.

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An Edmonton detective smiled and hugged his wife and other supporters yesterday after being found not guilty of breach of trust in an alleged photo radar scandal.

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Bryan Mahoney ruled Det. Thomas Bell may have made “some poor choices and errors in judgment” regarding the work he did towards recommending the sole sourcing of a $90-million photo radar contract to a U.S. photo radar provider.

However, he said the evidence did not show Bell’s conduct was a “serious and marked departure” from the norm, which is necessary for a criminal conviction.

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EDMONTON JOURNAL

EDMONTON – An Edmonton police officer has been cleared of any wrongdoing in connection with city’s controversial decision to hand an untendered multi-million dollar photo radar contract to an American company.

A judge today found Det. Tom Bell not guilty of breaching the public’s trust in 2004 when he recommended the city sole-source the 20-year, $90 million photo radar contract to Affiliated Computer Services.

“I’m happy, I’m relieved,” Bell said after court. “The court system worked.”

In an hour-long judgment, Calgary Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Bryan Mahoney dismissed every allegation against Bell, one by one.

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The Edmonton Police Commission is on the hot seat for dismissing a complaint made against a former acting police chief stemming from the infamous Overtime scandal.

The Law Enforcement Review Board (LERB) has ruled the police commission made an error when it found it did not have the jurisdiction to hear the complaint against Darryl da Costa.

“We’re going to prosecute this thing until it’s got a final result,” vowed Tom Engel, a member of the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association (CTLA), the group who brought this matter forward.

“We’re hoping that in the end the police commission is going to reconsider this.”

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EDMONTON JOURNAL

Edmonton – Douglas Kurtis Brown, an Edmonton police officer charged with impaired and dangerous driving after an off-duty crash left a teenager badly burned, has quit the service.

“He resigned as of Sept. 26,” EPS spokesman Dean Parthenis said.

Police were not able to say why Brown left their ranks.

The 29-year-old man is currently awaiting his February trial.

On May 11, Brown was off-duty when he allegedly drove his BMW 745i through a red light around 2 a.m., striking a pickup truck that burst into flames.

Several people were injured, including pickup driver Robert Wasyliw, 18.

Brown, who had been with the police service for three years, had been suspended without pay. He faces internal disciplinary charges as well.