Vancouver police responds to lawsuit over alleged service dog attack
An image provided by Pivot Legal Society of Christopher Evan's wounds.
A Vancouver police spokesperson says an internal department review found a complaint over an alleged attack by a police dog last June to be “unsubstantiated”.
Christopher Evans, 33, is suing the City of Vancouver and two officers, alleging he was bitten by a service dog and suffered wounds that required around 100 staples to close.
In the suit, Evans claims he continues to suffer ill effects from the injuries he sustained after the alleged attack in an East Vancouver alley.
“We only became aware of this pending lawsuit yesterday as a result of media stories,” Vancouver police Const. Lindsey Houghton told reporters during a briefing today (January 27).
“And while we can’t speak specifically to the incident that’s referenced, we can say that it has been investigated by the Vancouver Police Department’s professional standards section and that investigation was overseen by the B.C. Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, which found that the complaint was unsubstantiated,” he said.
Houghton also defended the department’s dog squad.
“The Vancouver police dog squad attends over 10,000 calls a year and their dog is deployed in less than one percent of those calls,” he said.
“It’s a tool that we have at our disposal just like a baton or pepper spray and in order to use that tool…an officer has to believe that a criminal offence has been committed and a use of force is needed to apprehend that suspect, and that’s well-defined in the Criminal Code,” Houghton said.
Evans, a Downtown Eastside resident, admits in legal documents he smashed a bus window in frustration after he was passed by several times while heading home on June 12, 2011.
He alleges he was later bitten on the leg by a service dog while skateboarding and listening to music on headphones. The Crown eventually stayed a charge of mischief against Evans, the suit says.
In his civil claim, Evans argues the deployment of the police dog was not warranted or necessary. He also argues the officers were negligent in training and deploying the dog.
Evans is seeking general damages for personal injuries and special damages for loss of income and earning capacity.
Pivot Legal Society, a Downtown Eastside advocacy group, is supporting his legal action against the city and the police officers.
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Comments
The article clearly states they were only aware of the LAWSUIT yesterday. The VPD obviously already knew about the incident and complaint, which was found to be "unsubstantiated". It speaks to Pivot's intent that they went to the press before even serving the lawsuit... Seems this is about making a media splash more than anything.
As stated in the first story (link in the second paragraph, above), the notice of claim for the suit was filed in court almost six weeks ago, not yesterday.
Interesting. Not sure why the discrepancy with this CBC story (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/01/26/bc-pivot...) where the last sentence stated the press release was the day before the city was to be served with the lawsuit. That made the VPDs comments make sense (that they were unaware of the civil suit), so I guess I'm just confused now! Maybe less CBC news and more Straight for me.
http://www.straight.com/article-593951/vancouver/bc-rcmp-apologize-not-s...
YOU end up PAYING for the Lawsuits, Settlements & Corporate FOR PROFIT JAILS that actually make for a more dangerous Society!
Look South of the Border they incarcerate more than STALIN!
They have the toughest on Crime policy ("War On Drugs" etc) and yet they have the most violent Gun slinging shoot out culture on the planet.
Let's see how much Canadians paid for Police abuse, wrongful, Court wrongful convictions and other judicial cockups, by City & Province.
Oh yeah don't forget the legal Bill Cost of Crown Cases even those where no settlement or payout, e.g. Cases "won" against abuse Cases etc.
If you wish to go on the record with your story, please email contact@straight.com and request that your message be passed on to a reporter. Provide a phone number if you have one.
Thank you.
More likely this bozo just fell off his skateboard.
That's rip-n-tear, all right. They don't call 'em land-sharks for nothing.
Further, this cop seens to have been acting as judge, jury and executioner. All too common in this day and age, sadly. Reference Marc Erickson's comment here: http://www.straight.com/article-591181/vancouver/vpd-dismisses-k9-concer...
.
However, you may notice that he claims he was skateboarding and listening to music when attacked, a claim not supported by other evidence. Is he in the wrong? Yes.
He posed a threat to the safety of others, and they took him down. I bet there would be just as much grief if he was tasered.
What if he bled to death? What if he died from a taser? What if he just didn't break windows with skateboards in the first place?
Complain all you want about the VPD, if you mind your own business you're almost guaranteed they'll mind theirs. They're no different than any other police force in this country, people here just cry more.
Bust his ass, cuff him, throw him in a urine-scented cell, make him face the due process of law. Try, convict and punish him fully in accordance with the law of the land. Fine. Got no problem with that at all. As I have said, let the punishment fit the crime. And cops are not in the business of business of handing out punishment, contrary to what many of them seem to think. That's why we have judges.
But to rend his flesh near unto death (yes, the artery was that close) simply to apprehend, is beyond the pale. And why anyone thinks police officers are there to mete out justice on the spot is beyond me.
In a different situation, it could be YOU getting torn up for a misdemeanor. Think about it.
that's how real justice works. if you want cops to mete out arbitrary justice through their dogs or batons or guns I suggest you move to Syria or Iran to see how awesome it is. protip: it's not
the police did their job here. the vast majority of interactions do not result in this kind of injury.
all you hug-a-thug types assume this was a deliberate act by the police. comments here that this is an example of a bloodthirsty act by a vicious predator wielded by a gestapo like police force trying to keep the common man down are one dimensional class-warfare marxist rhetorical bull.
consider this possibility, this 33 year old man with a skateboard breaks a window because he was frustrated with transit service, tries to escape the scene of the crime, the police find him, he resists and things spiral out of control or an accident occurs that result in his injuries. now this guy has the stones to sue the VPD? wow.
check out the video of this guy here smashing out the window. http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Vancouver+police+fight+back+over+poli...
this was a violent, aggressive act. and damaging property to boot. good thing the police were called on this guy.
what about the people that may have been on the bus? having a window smashed out while you are in the bus may have resulted in glass shards causing injury. if was you or your family, you'd be less likely to rant that the police actually caught the perp.