[news] Release: Assault on Six Women and Two Men Dismissed by the VPD Without Inquiry

[resist at resist.ca]

March 16, 2004
For Immediate release

ASSAULT ON SIX WOMEN AND TWO MEN DISMISSED BY VPD WITHOUT INQUIRY

At a press briefing this morning, the Vancouver Police Department continued their assault on 8 Eastside residents who 
were viciously beaten by VPD officers February 29th while returning home in the early morning hours. Producing 911 
tapes and a pair of boots as "evidence", the VPD stepped forward to claim officers innocent of any wrongdoing in the 
incident, without pursuing any formal process or inquiry.

The eight people who were assaulted by the police February 29th stand by statements of injury and innocence they have 
made in the public and to the media, and maintain that this is not an isolated incident of police brutality. Community 
outcry for police department accountability and inquiries into events involving excessive force used by police officers 
has been a feature of the poor relationship between the VPD and the Vancouver public over the past few years.

Community members were upset today that the VPD held a briefing to maintain no wrongdoing in this event before any 
trial, inquiry, or interviews with eye-witnesses to the event could take place. This appears to be a move to intimidate 
people challenging police actions, and puts any future trial or inquiry in jeopardy.

Although the VPD released some of the 911 tapes from that evening today, they did not release the 911 call made by an 
eyewitness who phoned to get emergency medical attention to the scene. Further to this, the VPD failed to mention 
during its briefing this morning that one of the officers involved in the February 29th incident is currently under 
investigation by the Police Commissioner for using excessive force at a cancelled Guns and Roses concert last year.

PIVOT Legal and other local and international organizations have conducted wide ranging studies over the past 2 years 
indicating that negligence, the use of excessive force, and human rights abuses are all part of standard operating 
procedure in the Vancouver Police Department. This latest campaign to smear legitimate complainants of police violence 
is just one more example of a force sadly out of touch with the citizens of Vancouver.

The original news release from the February 29th, 2004 incident can be found at http://resist.ca/~vpdbrutality. 

Reports detailing VPD abuses by PIVOT, PACE (Prostitution Alternatives and Counseling), and Human Rights Watch can be 
downloaded at http://www.pivotlegal.org/complaint/index.html.

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Media Contact:
Kathleen Yearwood
780 636 2141
voiceoftheturtle at angelfire.com