Release the evidence, says UBCIC’s Stewart Phillip

A prominent First Nations group is calling for the release of the full investigation report that influenced B.C. Crown Council to excuse Terrace RCMP of charges in an incident that left a First Nations man with a serious brain injury.

On Nov. 6, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC), along with the BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA), demanded the full disclosure of all evidence pertaining to the April 21 arrest and detainment of Robert Wright.

Wright, who lives in Terrace, had been arrested and detained for impaired driving. While detained in the Terrace RCMP holding cell, Wright suffered a brain injury requiring emergency surgery.

The circumstances surrounding Wright’s injury lead to a six-month police investigation ending last month with RCMP freed of any criminal wrongdoing.

The police exoneration was announced Nov. 2 after a report was released by the Criminal Justice Branch (CMB), which relied on surveillance video, cell block videotape, audiotape and a use-of-force expert’s report in deciding not to approve the charges recommended by the incident’s investigating agency, the New Westminster Police Department (NWPD).

The report further states that Wright visited hospital three times after hitting his head twice while in police custody. The evidence states that during one of the two incidents Wright was kneeling, handcuffed and facing the wall and being searched by three police officers when he was “taken” to the ground where he consequently hit his head, requiring stitches. Wright’s physical condition deteriorated through the night and he was admitted to hospital where it was determined he needed emergency brain surgery.

Wright’s interactions with police were video and audio recorded and the UBCIC and the BCCLA want to view the evidence for themselves.

“The video and audio tape in this case must be released,” said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of UBCIC. “We want to see how a man, kneeling down, surrounded by police, in handcuffs, presents such a threat to three police officers that he must be ‘taken’ to the ground causing a terrible head wound. What possible scenario could the videotape capture that justifies this use of force against a restrained man, asked Phillip.

“We’re trying to get to the bottom of why charges weren’t laid,” said David Eby, executive director of the BCCLA. “We’re in contact with the RCMP to see if they will voluntarily disclose the footage to the [Wright] family and the public,” he told Windspeaker. “The family has a legal right to the footage,” added Eby.

Heather Prisk-Wright, Robert’s wife, agreed.

“Let’s see everything,” she said. “If the family requests evidence, why would they hold anything back?” she asked.

Prisk-Wright said she needs the evidence to help answer the many unanswered questions she has regarding her husband’s in-custody injury.

“There are a lot of holes in the story,” she said, adding that she wonders why the Terrace RCMP failed to inform her of her husband’s injuries until the morning after he was detained.

Prisk-Wright also doubts that extreme use of force was necessary to restrain Wright. She suspects that with the high level of alcohol in Wright’s system he could have easily been detained and should have been closely monitored for alcohol poisoning.

“Why would they bring him back to city cells? Why did it take so long for Rob to get emergency surgery? Why didn’t they treat him like a human being?... They thought, ‘just some drunken Indian,” she suspects.

“He is my best friend,” Prisk-Wright continued.” Rob is a really good person. He is someone who would give you the shirt off his back,” she said.

Prisk-Wright said in the months since her husband’s surgery she has been “helping him remember who he is,” adding that while Wright can walk and talk he gets easily confused and disoriented.
“I’d like a complete review of the evidence,” she said. “We all have a right to know what happened.”

Constable Angela Rabut, spokesperson for the Terrace RCMP, told Windspeaker that while the criminal investigation is over, there is currently an internal investigation underway and “therefore it would be inappropriate to comment at this time on the details of this incident.”

Rabut did confirm that the investigation was handled by the NWPD and “decisions to the release of audio/video footage and any other details of the criminal investigation rests with them.”
Sergeant Diana McDaniel, spokesperson for the NWPD, did not comment on the request for release of evidence. She did state that “The NWPD is confident it has conducted a professional, thorough and independent investigation into this matter. A report to Crown Counsel was submitted and Crown decided not to approve charges.”

But on Nov. 13 another bombshell was dropped when the CJB reported that their decision not to approve charges relied, in part, on Vancouver Police Sergeant Brad Fawcett’s use-of-force expert report.

Fawcett is best known for being the expert that cleared RCMP officers in the 2007 Taser death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport.

As an expert in the Dziekanski case, Fawcett’s police use-of-force report had been described as both “blinkered” and “troubling” by Commissioner Thomas Braidwood in his 2010 final report on the incident that made headlines around the world.

“I’m absolutely flabbergasted that the CJB would use the same expert in the investigation that was largely responsible for the Robert Dziekanski debacle,” Grand Chief Phillip told Windspeaker.
The BCCLA said the police investigation process in B.C. needs an overhaul.

“They hand it off to an ‘expert’ who is in the pockets of the police and then it’s handed over to Crown who then just rubberstamps it all,” said Eby.

But the Crown said they weren’t responsible for choosing Fawcett as an expert and his testimony didn’t highly influence the Crown’s decision in the case.

“It was only one element in the material that was received,” CJB spokesperson Neil Mackenzie said.

MacKenzie said the decision to use Fawcett was made by the NWPD.

“The Crown doesn’t decide who the police consult in a report of this nature,” said MacKenzie. “Police must consult with Crown, but the choice is left in the hands of the investigation agency,” he explained.

The UBCIC and the BCCLA say they will continue to lobby for the full release of evidence pertaining to the Wright case.

“This is not an isolated incident,” Phillip continued. “This is one of a litany of cases in which Aboriginal people have been severely injured while in police custody and we are demanding full disclosure of this investigation…

“We’re certainly not going away,” Phillip said.