Tara Carman (Vancouver Sun) – A Williams Lake RCMP officer accused of repeatedly punching a 17-year-old girl in the face while she was handcuffed was given an absolute discharge after drunkenly shooting his service pistol through the ceiling of a Banff hotel in 2008, Alberta RCMP have confirmed.
Const. Andy Yung is the subject of an investigation being conducted by the Abbotsford police into his conduct on the night of Sept. 10, 2011.
Jamie Haller, 17, called home at 11:15 p.m. that night in a panic because she was being chased by members of local street gang the Indian Outlaws. A bystander had called police, her mother Martina Jeff said in her statement to the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, which was released by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.
As she was driving around looking for her daughter, Jeff said she saw a number of police cars with flashing lights and then saw her daughter lying on the ground, handcuffed and having a panic attack. Haller was surrounded by police, Jeff said, and when she tried to talk to her daughter, she was told by police that “she’s going to the cells tonight.”
Two officers then grabbed Haller and roughly threw her into the back of a police car, her mother said in the statement. Haller started kicking the windows and calling for her mother. Jeff said she heard an officer say, “Keep kicking and you’ll see what happens.”
The officer on the passenger side of the car was Yung, Jeff said.
“He put his whole upper body in the car and started punching. I was close enough to see the movement of his arms, and he was striking her,” Jeff said in her statement. Yung then walked away quickly, opening and closing his fists, she added.
“When I looked in the car I saw my daughter. Her face started swelling really bad. There was blood coming down each side of her mouth. She was handcuffed, with her hands behind her back,” the statement said.
Both the RCMP E Division and the Abbotsford police said they cannot comment on the allegations because the matter is under investigation.
This is not the first time Yung has been the subject of an investigation. In 2008, he was part of the security detail for Conference of Defence Ministers of the Americas meeting at the Banff Springs Hotel, hosted by Defence Minister Peter Mackay.
Just before their evening shift on Sept. 5 of that year, Yung and his colleagues were told they were no longer needed and were granted the night off. They went out for dinner and then to a nightclub, and Yung was drunk by the end of the night.
Back in his hotel room, before going to bed, Yung made a call to his ex-girlfriend that left him in tears.
Moments later, he fired a single round into the ceiling above, with the bullet passing into an unoccupied floor. He then called 911, identifying himself and saying that he had accidentally discharged his service pistol.
The officer admitted to the allegations at a November disciplinary hearing held in Ottawa.
Yung also admitted to using the country’s national police databank without authorization to keep tabs on his ex-girlfriend.
The RCMP board reprimanded Yung and docked him five days’ pay. Yung also pleaded guilty in criminal court last year and was given an absolute discharge, which means he was spared a criminal record and not issued a firearms prohibition.
Const. Ian MacDonald of the Abbotsford police said officers from that department will be back in Williams Lake to continue their investigation on Tuesday.
[Source]
We are now benefiting from the “just society” as envisioned by Trudeau. The RCMP is not alone in the spate of improper behavior from its employees. As you have noted on several occasions Calvin, it is the individual that is responsible for his or her actions. I am quite confident that police officers are not trained to discharge their firearm into ceilings neither are they trained to beat prisoners that are handcuffed (realizing that the above are allegations at this point).
Yet we still have the notorious Stanley park beatings in Vancouver BC, drug trafficking in the Vancouver and Peel Police forces. I would attribute partial blame onto the Federal govt in respect of the RCMP in not allowing them separate employer status and imposing hiring standards and such things as quotas.
There is also blame on the inability of society to deal with disciplinary issues effectively either in the courts or professional tribunals. Some lawyer will be your advocate on any hiring issue to ensure you get the occupation you want, regardless of whether you are actually qualified or suited. The same for disciplinary issues. The Chief of Police in Vancouver BC wanted to fire the entire cadre responsible for the beatings in the park, but was not able to. You have to ask yourself why.
A Peel Regional Police plainclothes officer who investigated drug offenders is himself facing serious drug charges, but the news has been kept quiet. Why is that? The OPP would not confirm the accused is in fact an officer, saying he wasn’t on duty when he was arrested.
If it was the RCMP they themselves would be sending our press releases. So in point of fact every force is having issues, the RCMP less by ratio but more by broadcast and frothing by the media. Quite obvious that other departments are less than willing to be up front with their employees shortfalls.
Everybody gets a ribbon, everybody is special and not liable because its the fault of society or somebody else. Dr. Phil has yet to convince the Canadian legal system.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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It is little wonder that provinces are some what reluctant to sign long term contracts for future RCMP policing.
It is only luck that no one was harmed in the room above him. The courts are now jumping on the band waggon with absolute discharges when firearm possession restrictions should have been the proper decision.
We must remember that all persons are innocent until proven guilty. Hence the second investigation.
Maybe we should take a lesson from Dr. Phil.
“Past behaviour is a prediction of future behaviour”.
Calvin Lawrence
Hot debate. What do you think?
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