More RCMP Violence

For many, many years citizen groups have been trying to get the RCMP to tone down the violence. They have a rough job, but this isn't a free pass to illegally rough up suspects.

Here is yet another story of "overzealous" RCMP kicking a suspect in the face as he follow directions and lays down on the pavement:



It ends up the police were arresting an innocent man for "firearms possession", a serious crime in Canada. The details of this RCMP take-down are in this Canada.com news article:

An RCMP officer in British Columbia is under criminal investigation amid accusations of police brutality after an arrest in which witnesses say an already-compliant man was kicked in the head.

Kelowna RCMP Const. Geoff Mantler has been reassigned to administrative duties after a video of the attack went viral on the Internet on Friday.

Kelowna RCMP Supt. Bill McKinnon said that police received a call Friday morning reporting that a male employee of the Harvest Golf Club in Kelowna was on the property with a shotgun.

He said the man was on disability leave after suffering a brain injury in a motorcycle accident last summer.

The man had a permit to fire the gun for the purpose of scaring geese off the golf course but McKinnon would not clarify if that was what he was doing Friday.

Kelowna-based video journalist Kelly Hayes heard the emergency call Friday morning that a man was shooting a gun at the Harvest Golf Club on a police scanner.

He arrived by car just as the RCMP moved in to try to stop an out-of-control pickup truck.

The RCMP was acting as judge, jury, and executioner by deciding that the report of "having a firearm" meant this guy was guilty of "a crime". But it ends up he had a permit and his job was to use the shotgun to scare off birds from a golf course. This is a classic case of "out of control" police. The police must not decide that a suspect is "guilty" before the guy gets a day in court. This RCMP officer needs to be fired. He is unfit to serve.

The good news is that the wheels of justice seem to be moving slowly. Mantler has been removed from active duty as pointed out in this article:

An RCMP officer in British Columbia is under criminal investigation amid accusations of police brutality after an arrest in which witnesses say an already-compliant man was kicked in the head.

Kelowna RCMP Const. Geoff Mantler has been reassigned to administrative duties after a video of the attack went viral on the Internet on Friday.

What I can't believe is that the RCMP is being vindictive by keeping the victim in jail while only giving a slap on the wrist for the RCMP officer who brutally attacked a man who was legally carrying a firearm as noted in this article:

A Kelowna man kicked in the face by a RCMP officer on Friday has been charged with careless use of a firearm.

Buddy Tavares is the subject of a video taken by Kelly Hayes of Castanet that shows Constable Geoff Mantler kicking him in the head as he was being arrested.

Tavares allegedly fired two shots at the Harvest Golf Course Friday morning.

He was taken down with what many people believe was “excessive force” by police near the intersection of KLO Road and Pandosy.

Tavares is still in custody after being medically examined and deemed fit to remain behind bars.

He will appear in court on Monday.

Seems to me that you don't jail a guy because of somebody calling in complaining about a guy "shooting a gun" if that guy has been hired by a golf course to scare geese off with a gun and has a license to do that and is carrying his firearm with a trigger lock in place as required by the law. Seems to me that Buddy Tavares is a victim of police brutality and that the RCMP is trying to fuzz up the picture or misdirect attention by holding Tavares while only giving a slap on the wrist to the RCMP officer. Under standard law of "innocent until proven guilty", there is no reason to hold Tavares because he has a proper excuse and there is no evidence that he was unlawfully discharging a firearm. All you have is somebody's complaint. That shouldn't be sufficient to jail somebody.

If my neighbor calls up the police and claims I murdered somebody in my home. The police have no right to come out and arrest me and jail me. They do have a right to respond to the call and to come into my house and look for evidence of a crime. But if there is no evidence, then a phone call by a neighbor is not sufficient to hold somebody. That can simply be a vindictive neighbor "pulling a trick" by getting the police to punish an innocent by making a complaint. Under our legal system of "innocent until proven guilty" you can't hold somebody unless there is reasonable evidence of a crime. Where is that evidence in this Buddy Tavares case?

This is simply another case of RCMP brutality and an unwillingness of the RCMP to allow an outside agency to do a proper review of their practice and in particular this case. There have been far too many cases of the RCMP brutally killing or beating up innocent people. This needs to be stopped.

I want good effective police work as much the next person, but I don't think we have to give up our rights and turn the country into a police state to have "effective" police. A professional police force recognizes the rules under which they must operate. They don't flaunt the law. Sadly, this isn't always the case in Canada. We need to have an independent commission that reviews all cases of police brutality.

Update 2010jan10: From the Kelowna News:



From CTV, Tavares was held more than 24 hours: "He was taken into custody and faces a charge of dangerous use of a firearm.". Odd. He had a legal reason for having the gun. If there was some question, I would have thought they would simply book him and release him to show up for trial. Why hold him for 24 hours. Did they really believe he was a "danger to the community". If so, why wasn't the RCMP cop thrown in the slammer. He certainly demonstrated he was a danger to the community by kicking Tavares in the head as he was down on all fours following police orders. Think about it. Which of these two would you be more afraid of? I say Mantler, the RCMP officer, was the one who clearly demonstrated he was a threat to the community. So why did Tavares spend 24 hours in jail while the RCMP officer went home to relax after "a hard day's work"?

There is something very odd where the victim spends 24 hours in jail but the abuser gets suspended "with pay". From an article in the Vancouver Province newspaper:

Buddy Tavares got kicked in the face but it’s the RCMP that ended up with a black eye.

According to the RCMP, a Kelowna Mountie will be suspended with pay while being investigated for use of excessive force after he was caught on video giving a soccer style boot to Tavares’s head.

Tavares, 51, allegedly fired shots at a golf course on Friday and was later taken down at gunpoint in his truck.

During his arrest, as he apparently obeyed RCMP orders and knelt on his hands and knees, an officer covering him with a gun swooped in and kicked him, causing Tavares to collapse forward and bleed profusely. A cellphone video showing the arrest has gone viral online, sparking calls for criminal charges against the officer.

At a press conference Monday, Kelowna RCMP’s Officer in Charge, Supt. Bill McKinnon said he understands the community’s outrage.

“I recognize that the community is shocked by what they have seen,” McKinnon said. “I can tell you that I too am shocked and disappointed [but] we have to now allow the process to take it’s course.”

Tavares has been charged with careless use of a firearm in relation to a domestic violence “situation,” that is still under investigation, police say. He appeared in a Kelowna court Monday to face the charge.

I am quite curious about the shift from yesterday's charge of "dangerous discharge of a weapon" on a golf course to today's "careless use of a firearm in relation to a domestic violence 'situation'". Is it typical for the police to stop cars at gun point using one charge and then within 24 hours drop that in favour of a completely different charge? That sure undermines my confidence in the competence of the police if they can't get their "charge" figured out before they chase people down on the street with guns drawn! Does anybody want a police force that seems so cavalier about "getting the story straight" before they run out with guns drawn, forcing them to the ground, then roughing them up with soccer kicks to the head? This isn't the "profession" police force that the RCMP promised us. This sounds like a gang of hooligans who can't get their story straight when they get caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

But wait a second... this is the same RCMP that so cavalierly took Robert Dziekanski's life. Dziekanski was a distraught airline passenger waiting for his mother but trapped behind in a "secure" area while his mother, who had driven down from Kamloops, wasn't allowed to see him. In fact, the authorities made no attempt to put her in contact with her son despite the fact that her son spoke no English. In stead, the RCMP were called to "fix" the situation. They sure "fixed" it. They came in with tasers a flashing and put Dziekanski's agitation to an end. They killed him!



It is clear that the RCMP has learned nothing since they killed Dziekanski. They are still training their officers to shoot/kick/beat first and ask questions later. And, they still charge into a situation without first getting the facts, or in the case of Tavares, getting their "charge" straight.

And here is a recent Vancouver police incident where the police had the "charge" right but got the "wrong address" and proceeded to beat an innocent man. From a CTV story:

Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu has personally apologized for a case of mistaken identity that saw an innocent man badly injured by police.

Yao Wei Wu, 44, was roughed up by two plain-clothed officers attending a domestic call after they went to the wrong residence in an East Vancouver home early Thursday morning.

On Thursday, a department spokesperson said the man who answered the door at the home didn't understand English very well and officers used force after he resisted officers by attempting to shut the door.

But in an interview with CTV News, Wu said the officers yanked him outside and assaulted him just after opening the door. It was only after the beating they asked what his name was, he said.

The incident left Wu badly bruised and his eye completely swollen shut.

On Friday, Chu admitted officers arrested Wu in error and the initial information about him resisting arrest was not correct.

Click on the label "POLICE" at the bottom of this post to find innumerable other cases of a "shoot first, ask questions later" police action. This is simply unacceptable. The police need training and a good salary. After that, the public has a right to expect competence and law-abiding behaviour from their police forces!

Update 2010jan13: Here is a video from today that demonstrate very clearly that Buddy Tavares doesn't have any "domestic violence" problem. What is outrageous is they kept him locked up for 3 days for shooting a gun (for which he has a permit and a job to shoot it on the golf course) and for "domestic violence" (which the following shows is a completely bogus accusation). Since when do you hold people for 3 days on anonymous "complaints" with no documentation and no identifiable witness? This is simply unacceptable. And to add salt to the wound, the RCMP officer is on a paid "vacation" (he has been "put on paid leave"... I would have loved that in my last job!):



This whole case reeks of police incompetence, of police cover-up, and of an intransigence by the police to face facts and deal honestly with the public. This police force should be disbanded and a new one which isn't corrupt should be hired to replace them.

Update 2011jan16: See my posting Update on Buddy Tavares, RCMP Victim. This provides additional details and a couple more videos. At the bottom is an extensive interview with Buddy Tavares which is well worth watching.

Compare what is written above and in the update posting and compare that to one of the commenters on this blog challenging my version of events. This "Anonymous" person obviously feels it is unjustified to ever question police authority. Sadly, I don't think that person has carefully read the above posting or the updated post. I find it hard to accept people who simply blindly accept the RCMP "interpretation" of events.

The RCMP is like any organization. It has good and bad people within it. They make mistakes. People need to understand this. They need to recognize that police make mistakes and the only way you will ever get appropriate resolution is through independent review. You can't have the police "police" themselves!