No charges for cop
who shot mentally ill man
Jack Keating, Vancouver Province, Nov. 10, 2009
A Vancouver police officer who fatally shot a 39-year-old mentally ill man more than two years ago will not face charges, the criminal justice branch announced Monday.
The B.C. Civil Liberties Association denounced the decision, saying it was another example of a broken system that allows police to investigate themselves.
Animator Paul Boyd was shot and killed by the police officer, who was among eight uniformed and plain-clothes officers confronting Boyd as he brandished a bicycle chain on Granville Street near West 16th Avenue on Aug. 13, 2007.
“The criminal justice branch has acted as judge and jury and prevented this serious set of allegations from going to the truth-finding process of trial, something that simply wouldn’t happen for a member of the public,” said David Eby, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.
Neil MacKenzie, communications counsel for the criminal-justice branch, said there wasn’t sufficient evidence to take the case to trial.
“Ultimately, the branch concluded that our charge-approval standard wasn’t met here.”
“As is the case with the statements taken from the many civilian witnesses, the reports filed by the eight officers involved in the incident contain discrepancies in how they describe what occurred,” said the report written by MacKenzie.
Eby said he was “not surprised that no charges were laid.”
“But we are quite shocked by the circumstances as described in the criminal justice branch backgrounder.”
“In particular, that the police officer fired four to five bullets after an order was made to cease fire,” said Eby. “That the last bullet hit Mr. Boyd in the head as he was crawling on the road.”
There will be further investigations by the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner and the coroner, which were on hold until yesterday’s decision.
March 19, 2012 update:
True to form, B.C. police complaint commissioner Stan T. Lowe
absolves Const. Lee Chipperfield for shooting Boyd eight times. More...
The only news is the B.C. Civil Liberties Association’s criticism.
David Eby and the BCCLA normally co-operate with Lowe and his corrupt ex-cops.
They also congratulate the BC Liberals for their con job on police accountability.
More on the BCCLA...
May 30, 2012 update:
Was Boyd’s behaviour provoked by a gun-wielding
undercover cop who didn’t identify himself? More...
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