Court orders stay of impaired-driving charges against RCMP officer

(Canadian Press) Vancouver, B.C. – The Crown is considering whether to appeal a provincial court judge’s order to stay impaired-driving charges against a North Vancouver RCMP officer.

But despite apparently escaping the criminal charge, Cpl. Darren Baker will still face an internal disciplinary hearing on his conduct next month.

Baker, a former school-liaison officer, was charged after being pulled over by West Vancouver police in December 2007 for driving erratically.

Baker’s case was moved to Surrey provincial court because of the accused’s connection with the justice system in North Vancouver, where the case would otherwise have been heard.

Criminal Justice Branch spokesman Neil MacKenzie said Surrey’s Crown prosecutor forgot to request a video of the West Vancouver police station’s cell-block and booking area at the time of Baker’s arrest. The recordings normally are kept for only 90 days.

“Defence applied for a stay of proceedings last week in advance of the trial on the basis that Crown had not fulfilled their request for disclosure of that video,” MacKenzie said Wednesday.

“Crown counsel opposed the application and argued that the matter should proceeding, notwithstanding the loss of that potential piece of evidence.”

But the judge ordered the stay last Thursday based on failure to disclose evidence.

MacKenzie said the Crown has 30 days from the ruling to decide whether to appeal.

“The Crown is now reviewing its options as a result of that ruling,” he said.

MacKenzie would not detail what the video might show.

“Crown’s position at the application was that it wasn’t of such a relevance that it should result in a stay of proceedings,” he said. “But defence took the opposite position and ultimately the judge ruled in the defence’s favour.”

Baker, who was off duty at the time of his arrest, still faces an RCMP code-of-conduct hearing Feb. 26, said spokesman Sgt. Tim Shields.

“There is a board made up of three very senior officers who are usually brought in from an external location from across Canada in order to remove any potential for bias,” he said.

The hearing is similar to a criminal-court process, Shields said, and if the board finds Baker guilty of breaching the force’s code of conduct he could face anything from an administrative penalty to loss of pay, demotion or even dismissal.

Baker has officially retained full-duty status since being charged but Shields said for almost the entire time he has been off duty due to an injury.

Shields would not elaborate, saying it was a private health matter, and could not say if it was connected to the charges. Baker was expected to be back on duty in about two weeks, he added.

Although the arrest took place in late 2007, the charges – drunk driving and driving with a blood-alcohol level over .08 – were not made public until last October.

Several police officers from the Vancouver area have faced impaired-driving accusations recently.

The most serious allegation is against Richmond RCMP Cpl. Benjamin Monty Robinson, who was arrested after motorcyclist Orion Hutchinson was killed in a collision with a Jeep in suburban Delta last October.

Police recommended charges of impaired driving causing death and driving over the .08 limit but Robinson has not yet been formally charged.

A Jan. 15 court appearance was put off because the Crown did not have all the reports necessary to formally charge Robinson.

Robinson was one of four involved in an October 2007 incident at Vancouver International Airport where Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski died after being stunned several times with a Taser.

In December, a female police officer from New Westminster, B.C., pleaded guilty to impaired driving and was fined $1,000.

Const. Tomi Hamner, 47, was off-duty and driving an unmarked police car when the vehicle hit a sign on Highway 1 in North Vancouver.