S TANDARD TERRACE
1.30
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$1.24 PLUS 6¢ GST
VOL. 27 NO. 26
www.terracestandard.com
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Arrest video release prompts officer probe A TERRACE RCMP officer is the subject of two investigations relating to his actions in the arrest of a person here May 28. An RCMP Code of Conduct investigation has started as has an investigation by a new provincial body, the Independent Investigations Office of BC (IIO), charged with looking into the actions of police officers. The officer, so far unidentified, has been placed on administrative duty for the time being, meaning he is not on patrol duty. The other two officers present at the time of the arrest are still on active duty. Inspector Dana Hart, the commanding officer of the Terrace RCMP detachment, said he ordered the Code of Conduct investigation and asked that the IIO step in with its own investigation after becoming aware of the video on Oct. 7. Taken just before 10 p.m. May 28, 2014, the video shows an officer physically restraining a male person who is on the ground in front of a business on Lazelle Ave. The person is on his stomach on the ground and appears to be showing no resistance. The video shows several
blows being administered to the back of the head of the person, one after the person was handcuffed with his arms behind his back. Hart stressed that the two investigations are independent of each other. The administrative duty provision will be assessed and could change as the investigations move along, he added. While Hart said the video, approximately two minutes in length, does not capture the specific chain of events leading to the arrest, he did say officers were responding to a 911 call. “There was a call about a fight between a male and a female on the 4700 block of Lazelle, behind the theatre,” said Hart. “There were two individuals and both were taken into custody.” The male is currently facing charges and is under the age of 18, meaning that under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, he has not been named. “I’ve been very public about this and that is that we’re held accountable for our actions,” said Hart of the steps taken since becoming aware of the incident. “That’s my expectation and that of the RCMP – that concerns
be dealt with properly.” An officer through a Code of Conduct investigation could face dismissal depending upon the results of the investigation. The video was first provided Sept. 25 to The Terrace Standard by an acquaintance of the person who filmed it and the newspaper does not know who filmed the video. Hart did ask that the person who took the video come forward so that as much information as possible can be compiled by RCMP and IIO investigators. “We want this event to be properly investigated,” he said. The same request was made by the IIO which is asking that any witnesses to the May incident come forward. The office, which came into being in 2012, is, according to its website, “mandated to conduct investigations into police-related incidents of death or serious harm in order to determine whether or not an officer may have committed an offence.” There were no immediate indications as to how long each of the investigations would take. The video, which does contain graphic content, can be viewed at www.terracestandard.com.
Election campaigns underway MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO
■■ All done WHAT SEEMED to be one of the longer roadwork projects in recent years approached a conclusion last week when asphalt was laid down to smooth the Frank St. railway crossing. The complete project involves a new set of lights on Hwy16 to control traffic on and off of Frank St. in a similar fashion to the lights at the intersection of Kenney and Highway 16. It means safer passage for trains and, in particular, for long vehicles using the Frank St. crossing. The city and the province paid for the work.
Retirement Ksan House Society’s longtime executive director says goodbye \COMMUNITY B1
NOMINATIONS FOR local government positions closed Oct. 10 with the result being as much about the few people running for some offices as about the number running for other offices. While there is going to be a race for mayor of Terrace between two people and there 13 people running for the six council seats, only one person was nominated, current school district chair Art Erasmus, for the two Terrace seats on the Coast Mountains School District and one person, current trustee Gary Turner, was nominated for the Thornhill seat on the school dis-
SEE THIS WEEK’S B SECTION FOR COMMUNITY, SPORTS & CLASSIFIED ADS
trict board. Meanwhile, in the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine, current Thornhill director Ted Ramsey was the only person to be nominated again for that seat and only one person, newcomer Jessica McCallum-Miller, was nominated for the seat that takes in the rural area north of Terrace stretching down south past Lakelse Lake toward Kitimat. In those situations where only one person was nominated for one seat, that person will be declared elected by acclamation. In a situation when no one was nominated, as is the case
with one of the two Terrace seats on the school board, the first step by returning officer Cathy Jackson was to extend the nomination period until yesterday. The Terrace mayoral race is between current city councillor Bruce Bidgood and a former councillor Carol Leclerc. Of the 13 Terrace council candidates, all of the current councillors are running again – Lynne Christiansen, James Cordeiro, Brian Downie, and Stacey Tyers. Don Dunster, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2011, is now trying for a council seat.
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Terrace triumph Terrace’s young volleyball teams are starting the season off right \SPORTS B11