[news] SkyTrain Police Assault Teacher

[ron at resist.ca]

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
From:    "Calvin Woida" <calvinwoida at hotmail.com>
Date:    Thu, September 18, 2003 12:10 pm
To:      copb-van-l at lists.resist.ca
         copwatch at resist.ca
Cc:      bru at resist.ca
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


Teacher taking SkyTrain cops to civil court

By Mike Howell-Staff writer

A 27-year-old teacher who claims two SkyTrain cops tackled her last fall
and  hit her in the eye with a flashlight is furious with the justice
system  after learning the Crown decided not to proceed with charges
against the  cops.

Christy Logeman, a special education teacher in Vancouver, required facial
 reconstructive surgery after last November's incident, near the Stadium 
SkyTrain station, said her lawyer Michael Mines.

Logeman learned Wednesday the assault charges had been dropped, but a 
message left Thursday for Crown counsel spokesman Geoff Gaul was not 
returned to the Courier before deadline to explain the decision.

"She's irate," said Mines, who's launched a civil suit against TransLink
and  the special constables on Logeman's behalf.

According to Mines, the two SkyTrain special constables rushed Logeman
from  behind, pinned her to the ground and then one of them struck her
with a  flashlight in the face.

At the time, Mines said, Logeman was chasing her boyfriend after he stole 
her wallet and keys. The boyfriend, who had a court-imposed no-contact
order  with Logeman, took her belongings after she refused to allow him to
go home  with her, Mines said.

She was tackled just after she took a swing at her boyfriend with a
shopping  bag containing sandals. Logeman suffered a broken bone around
the eye and  continues to receive medical care for her injury, he said.

Mines noted his client was initially charged with assaulting the SkyTrain 
cops, but the charge was dropped after the SkyTrain cops couldn't prove to
 Crown how Logeman specifically suffered the injury. The boyfriend was not
 charged.

In a rare court procedure, Logeman was then successful in getting
provincial  court judge Jocelyn Palmer to approve assault charges against
the SkyTrain  cops.

The Crown, however, decided not to proceed with the charges based on a 
recommendation from a Vancouver city cop investigating the incident. No
date  has been set for the civil trial.

TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie said Mines' purpose in contacting the media
 is to simply seek publicity and get Logeman's name published in the
Courier.

"If she's going to proceed with the suit, why is she looking for publicity
 as well?" Hardie said. "TransLink and the special constables will deal
with  this where it should be, and that is in court."

Hardie wouldn't comment on the incident, but cautioned that Logeman's
story  is simply based on claims at this point. He did, however, say
SkyTrain cops  often don't know who is the "bad guy" or "good guy" when
responding to an  altercation.

"All we know is that there are two people going at each other, and in some
 cases it's necessary to simply separate them and treat everybody the same
 way."

TransLink employs about 70 SkyTrain cops, the majority of them retired
RCMP  and city cops (which explains why most of them are white, middle
aged  redneck assholes!). With about 52 million boardings a year on
SkyTrain,  Hardie said his office receives about 10 complaints a year of
alleged  wrongdoing regarding SkyTrain cops.

The New Westminster police department has an agreement with TransLink to 
investigate all complaints against SkyTrain cops-unlike the province's 
municipal police departments, who are investigated by the Office of the 
Police Complaint Commissioner.

New Westminster police continue to investigate the allegations against the
 SkyTrain cops in the Logeman incident, Hardie said.

_________________________________________________________________
Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online
http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963

_______________________________________________
copb-van-l mailing list
copb-van-l at lists.resist.ca
https://lists.resist.ca/mailman/listinfo/copb-van-l