Wednesday March 23, 2016 (Vol. 41 No. 23)
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V O I C E
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W H I T E
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S O U T H
World record: A record number of countries will be represented at the Women’s World Softball Championships in South Surrey this summer, with 31 teams from around the globe having signed on to compete. i see page 37
S U R R E Y
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Independent Investigation Office releases little information in months since police-involved killing
Victim’s family waits too long: MLA Melissa Smalley Staff Reporter
A Surrey MLA is speaking out on behalf of the family of Hudson Brooks in their search for answers, eight months after the 20-year-old was killed by police in South Surrey. NDP MLA Sue Hammell (SurreyGreen Timbers) told Peace Arch News this week that Hudson’s family has been waiting “much too long” for information about what happened in the early
morning hours of July 18, when he was fatally shot outside of the South Surrey RCMP detachment. “We have a family that doesn’t have answers as to what happened,” she said Monday. “For all of our sense of security and trust, we need to know what happened. It’s now March, in (four) months it will be a year. That’s much too long.” Police said the shooting occurred after an altercation during which an officer was also injured, later confirming that
only police-issued weapons were found at the scene. No further details have been disclosed, and the case is in the hands of the Independent Investigation Office, which handles incidents involving police that result in serious injury or death. Last month, IIO spokesperson Marten Yousseff told PAN the office was still awaiting “third-party” reports, and did not have a timeline for when the reports would be complete. Hammell said such delays – another
IIO spokesperson told PAN in December the office was still waiting for unrelated ballistics reports from a full year earlier – need to be addressed. “If there are backups, then those are indicative that they need more resources,” Hammell said. “There should be some kind of best practices or standards around how long it takes to get back to people regarding an incident like this.” i see page 2
Hudson Brooks killed last July
Udo Zirkwitz photo
City crews install temporary concrete barricades along the entrance to Crescent Beach in the aftermath of the March 11 storm, anticipating additional 105 km/h winds that never came.
‘Ad-lib’ measures result in placing concrete highway barricades along scenic waterfront
Crescent weathers quick fix in wake of storm Alex Browne Staff Reporter
A temporary storm wall erected on the Crescent Beach waterfront – in anticipation of a serious windstorm that never materialized – has been removed. The wall of precast concrete highway barriers – adjacent to Beecher Street and Adams Lane – was removed section by section by City of Surrey crews on Monday. It had been there since March 13, installed in the aftermath of the 90-km/h winds that
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whipped the White Rock and South Surrey coastline March 11 – and in anticipation of a storm later that evening that was being forecast to reach winds of up to 105 km/h. “The peak tide would have been at 10 p.m. that night, and our crews completed the wall just before that,” said City of Surrey operations manager Rob Costanzo. “Murphy’s Law – the wind died down.” The wall – the first attempt of its kind at Crescent Beach – was only planned as a temporary measure to back up the existing
dike, Costanzo said. The dike had received a pounding from crashing waves during the previous storm, sending rocks over the top and onto the pathway and sending water into front gardens, he added. Time would have been of the essence had the forecast storm materialized, Costanzo said. “We really did this ad-lib – sand bags would have been very labour intensive and would have taken hours, and we would not have been able to place them in time.”
Once the structure was built, Costanzo said, it was decided to leave it in place for a week. “There weren’t any forecasts of any significance, but we thought we’d keep it there, just in case,” Costanzo added. He said that while some residents had contacted the city to find out how long the wall would be in place, response from residents and businesses was generally favourable – even though the barriers had impeded the view of the beach for the space of a week. i see page 2