Another Black Eye for Vancouver Police:
Women Charge Vancouver City Police Assault and Erase Phone Video
by C. L. Cook
 State media operator, the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC Online) is reporting claims made by two women that Vancouver City Police they filmed conducting a violent arrest outside a nightclub roughed them up too, before arresting them and confiscating their cell phone camera.
Ania Wliczewski says her black eye was caused by Vancouver police while she recorded an altercation on her cellhpone. (CBC)
Sporting a black eye, and complaining of rib pain she says she suffered at the hands of police, Ania Wliczewski, and fellow arrestee Caitlin Buxton, told CBC reporters they witnessed the altercation between police and a man outside a Gastown nightclub last week.
Wliczewski says she was "tackled and arrested" after police saw her filming them. Buxton too was taken in, and also complained of injuries, saying her wrist and head were damaged due to the arrest. The pair were later released and the cell phone returned, but Wliczewski says the images she recorded were missing.
When asked why she didn't use her cell phone to call for help for the man she says was being assailed, Wliczewski told the CBC;
"There was police already at the scene. They were already there and they were the ones who did something wrong."
In recent years, Vancouver City Police, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in British Columbia, have both been at the centre of brutality and abuse of power scandals. The most famous of these was the "tazering" death of Polish emigre Robert Dziekanski in Vancouver International Airport in 2007. In that case, a disoriented Dziekanski's encounter with four RCMP officers was recorded by a fellow passenger in the airport. The passenger's camera was too confiscated by police on the scene, and only returned after threats of legal action following a nearly year-long delay.
The footage, when finally released, caused a sensation in Canada, not least due to the victim's pathetic calls for the "Polizia" to help him as the RCMP proceeded to tazer him to death.
One of the four RCMP involved in the Dziekanski killing was later charged in a fatal drunk driving incident that killed young motorcyclist Orion Hutchinson. Delta Police offered no recommendation for charges against constable Benjamin Montgomery Robinson in that case.
British Columbians remember too the case of youngster Ian Bush, killed in custody by a rookie RCMP officer in highly questionable circumstances in 2005. Bush was arrested for giving a false name to the new RCMP man in the small town of Houston, B.C. Bush's grieving family and friends said it was just the kind of thing the jovial prankster was famous for.
The incident began when one of the thugs demanded directions. Khan says he told the man to "wait a second" as he struggled with bundles of newspapers. This would not do for West Vancouver Police Constable Griffin Gillan, who bawled to Khan, "You fucking come here right now!" before proceeding to beat the crap out of him.
Gillan apologised to Khan for the assault in court, but said he didn't remember robbing the man after beating him up. Apparently forgotten too was the manager of the Vancouver Hyatt, (the site of the attack) coming out to investigate, and asking Gillan, bestride the beaten down Khan, if he should call the police. Gillan forgets responding, "We ARE the police!"
The Vancouver Sun's Neal Hall filled in some of the courtroom colour;
"Gillan, 25, began drinking in West Vancouver while watching a Canucks hockey game on TV with two other off-duty officers that night: Jeffrey Klassen, 38, of the New Westminster police, who was also a use-of-force instructor for police training at the Justice Institute of B.C.; and Blair Tanino, a Delta police officer.
The trio later went to Vancouver and continued drinking at two clubs on Granville Street.
After consuming 25 drinks, Gillan hitched a ride from the Roxy nightclub and confronted Khan outside the Hyatt.
"Buddy, I need to know how to get to Broadway and Cambie," Gillan told Khan, 47.
"Give me a second," Khan said, trying to balance a stack of 75 papers on his shoulder.
"You f---ing come here right now," Gillan ordered, grabbing Khan by the lapels, kneeing him in the stomach and taking him to the ground.
When Khan asked why Gillan was hitting him, Gillan replied, "You're under arrest."
Gillan was suspended without pay until trial. July 29, 2009 he pleaded guilty to assault and was sentenced. A two line report of Gillan's appearance in the National Post reports he received a three week jail sentence, to be served at home.
Gillan's accomplice in the mugging, New Westminster constable and 'use of force' instructor at the Justice Institute of British Columbia, Jeffrey Klassen is yet to face the court for his role in the assault and robbery; his trial date set for "sometime" in the Spring of 2010.
The CBC says they have sent Wilczewski's cell phone to a forensic specialist to see if the images of the incident she alleges can be recovered. Regardless of the outcome of that investigation, what is clear in Vancouver is: Police are not trusted by many who live there; the failure of justice in these cases has created an atmosphere of impunity within police circles; and, there is still not a clear policy in place regarding the ubiquitous cell phone camera and the rights of citizens to record police abuse and not suffer assault, imprisonment, and confiscation of cameras.
Though the seizure of cameras by police is said to be against Vancouver City Police policy, it seems that message has yet to filter down the ranks.
The CBC report of their forensic examination of Wliczewski's camera is expected soon; whether justice for Ania Wliczewski and Caitlin Buxton will follow is an open question.
The pair say they plan to seek legal advice.
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