BC Cop gets away with murder - for 2nd time

hucksplat

hucksplat

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from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/mountie-escapes-impaired-driving-charge-in-bc-death/article1384800/

Overruling recommendations by a local police force, B.C.'s Ministry of the Attorney-General won't lay impaired-driving charges after a fatal crash last year involving an RCMP officer who was also at the centre of the Robert Dziekanski case.The ministry's criminal justice branch announced Tuesday it will instead lay a single charge of attempting to obstruct justice against RCMP Corporal Benjamin Montgomery (Monty) Robinson.The charge stems from an Oct. 25, 2008, crash in Tsawwassen, B.C., in which motorcyclist Orion Hutchinson was struck by a Jeep driven by Cpl. Robinson, who was off duty at the time, the ministry said.After the crash, Cpl. Robinson gave his driver's licence to a witness and left the scene to carry his two children, who were in the Jeep, to the family's nearby home, defence lawyer Reg Harris said in an interview Tuesday. Cpl. Robinson has said he'd consumed two beers earlier that night and, once leaving the crash scene, drank two shots of vodka at his home.“He had volunteered that he had consumed liquor, yes,” Mr. Harris said. Cpl. Robinson then returned to the scene of the crash, at which Mr. Hutchinson was pronounced dead.The collision was investigated by Delta police, who in June recommended the Crown lay charges of impaired driving causing death and dangerous driving causing death against Cpl. Robinson.But in a statement Tuesday, the government said “available evidence does not establish to the criminal standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, that at the time of the collision Cpl. Robinson had a blood alcohol level over the legal limit, that his ability to operate a motor vehicle was impaired by alcohol, or that he was operating his vehicle in a dangerous manner. …”Unlike other provinces where police lay charges directly, British Columbia requires the Crown to approve charges suggested by investigators.Neil MacKenzie, a spokesman for B.C.'s criminal justice branch, was tight-lipped about what the charge of obstructing justice stems from, saying only that it was due to the “alleged actions” of Cpl. Robinson in the hours after the collision.“I know it's connected to the motor vehicle accident,” Mr. Harris added. Cpl. Robinson will plead not guilty to obstructing justice, the lawyer said.“My client's position is at no time that evening did he commit a criminal offence.”Mr. Hutchinson's sister and mother issued a statement saying they are “relieved that a decision has finally been made to prosecute the individual who caused Orion's death.”“There is nothing that can take away our pain or repair our loss. However, we can only hope now to see some justice done,” the man's mother, Judith Hutchinson, and sister Daria Hutchinson, wrote.The crash came just over a year after Cpl. Robinson gave the order to fire a taser at Mr. Dziekanski, who died shortly after.Cpl. Robinson has been suspended with pay since the collision, RCMP Sergeant Tim Shields said. The RCMP's commanding officer in B.C. proposed suspending him without pay, but the force's Ottawa-based chief human resources officer decided against it, Sgt. Shields said.Cpl. Robinson will remain suspended, pending an internal RCMP code of conduct investigation that will take place once his court case is concluded, Sgt. Shields said. It will consider all evidence collected by Delta, including that which led to the police force's initial recommendation for charges. That panel will consider a host of possible penalties, up to and including dismissal from the RCMP.

I am truly disgusted ..... yet again.
 
How do you glean enough information out of that article to be able to take a position? I mean, that sucks he crashed into someone, but from what's there I really have no way to tell if he was actually over the legal limit and guilty of negligent homicide or not... and I wouldn't want crown counsel wasting coffer funds on prosecuting a guy they don't have the goods to put away just because we don't like him. The fact that he was involved with the taser thing obviously cannot play any role in a decision whether or not to prosecute him for THIS alleged crime.
 
You somewhat indirectly highlight James' point though-- we have here a police officer who nobody likes, and for good reason. He gave the very questionable and highly contested order to Taser an innocent man, which resulted in said man's death. A year later, he careens into and kills a motorcyclist, whilst under the influence of some alcohol and with his own children in the car. Are these choices and actions that should go unpunished? You are right; the law does not punish people we don't like, just for the sake of their lack of popularity (and thank goodness for that or I would likely be in Jail after last year). But when we don't punish someone because of their actions- actions which resulted in the avoidable and questionable death of two people-- perhaps we need to question our own system of justice.
 
This was a few blocks from my house, and well I did not know Orion personally, i had many close friends that did. I saw it on the news last night and was disgusted. If this was a normal person they would be in prison. He is suspended WITH pay too right now, terrible.
 
I'm with John on this one. While it is very unfortunate that this occurred, there is no solid evidence that he was inebriated. This and the tazer incident certainly do not help his cause and makes him look like an absolute monster, but again, no sufficient proof.
What if he is telling the truth and he did only have two beers like he claimed? Chances are he would have still blown under the legal limit and this would have been written off as reckless driving or something to that degree.
My 2¢

 
Unfortunately, Zav and JD are under-informed.
First off, he DID blow over the limit. This despite the fact that they waited for over 2 hours after the accident to test him when he got back to the police station. That in itself is a travesty as it gives semblance that they were hoping he would become sober before testing. He claims he blew over the limit because after the accident, he went home and had two shots of vodka before coming back to the accident scene. Which raises more concerns. How dare he leave the scene of an accident when there is a person injured (and who would ultimately die of those injuries). And drinking the shots afterwards is a poor reason to excuse the evidence of the breath alcohol test, he is a cop and should know better. Frankly, that should merit an obstruction of justice charge in itself as he would be tampering with evidence (he own drunkeness) and he illegally left the scene of an accident/crime in order to do so. There is evidence he was drunk before he took those shots anyways. He was at a cop party where other officers stated he had drank numerous ( as in > 2) beers at the party before going home. They stated he was red eyed and acting drunk at the party.
Now if the crown chooses not to prosecute, they better have some fucking good reasons given that the local police departments who investigated the accident recommended laying charges. Meaning they think he was drunk and they think they had enough evidence to prosecute. But wait, their report has not been released to the public and I doubt we will see it for years to come. Neither has the prosecutor released the official reasons and available evidence as to why they are not prosecuting.
This case makes me almost as sick as the Ian Bush incident when a young adult was shot in the back of the skull while under arrest IN THE POLICE STATION. Conveniently, no other officers were present at the time (despite by official protocol, there have to be other officers in the station at all times) and even more conveniently, the video cameras in the station mysteriously did not have tapes in them recording at the time. How strange... but no way they were removed. Not to mention the blood spatter did not corroborate the cop's story and that the pathologist did a sloppy job and chose not to do a 3-d blood spatter reconstruction test to verify the claimed shooting physics no examine the bruisings on the victims body.
Cops would rather protect their peers then protect society.
 
they have no way to tell, but pretty much what james said.

claiming to leave the scene to take two shots of vodka before getting breathalyzed when he obviously knew he was going to be is information enough. why would he purposely make himself blow over the limit? oh right.

on a side note, i dont doubt the fiasco over the tasering lead to the alcoholism.
 
of course van city cops are fucked they always have been in high school our liason officer sold chronic officer simpson and i remember when they cuffed a dude near mcdonalds in lynn valley and beat him with clubs on film and they never got charged they do what they want it sucks but the opp in toronto are just as bad as are the lapd cops are fucked
 
Not the time to post this. We're talking about a cop getting away with murder, not the contest scene on the shore.
 
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