Meghan Hurley, Gary Dimmock and Neco Cockburn, Ottawa (Canwest News Service)
Update: A former RCMP officer is being held in connection with the stabbing death Tuesday of an Ottawa police officer outside the Ottawa Hospital’s Civic Campus.
Story: An Ottawa police officer was stabbed to death early Tuesday morning outside a city hospital emergency ward.
The officer — the first city police officer to die in the line of duty since 1983 — was stabbed at about 4:30 a.m. outside the Ottawa Hospital’s Civic Campus, police said.
A visibly shaken police chief Vern White said the officer died at 5:30 a.m., despite the efforts of paramedics and hospital staff.
The officer’s name has not been released, but there are unconfirmed reports the male officer was sitting in a cruiser outside the ER when he was attacked and stabbed.
One man is in custody after having been subdued by two nearby paramedics and quick-thinking bystanders, White said.
White said the slain officer was at the hospital for an unrelated incident.
“It’s with great sadness that I’m here before you today,” White said at a media briefing Tuesday morning. “Please let me express my deepest sympathy to the family and friends of the officer and the family of the Ottawa Police Service who are dealing with this tragedy.”
The Ottawa police major crimes investigation unit is continuing and charges have not yet been laid against the suspect.
Yellow police crime tape blocked off the area outside the emergency department’s door where ambulances deliver their patients.
White said the arrested man was not previously known to the police.
The emergency room remains open, said Nicolas Ruszkowski, vice-president of communications for the hospital. Ruszkowski deferred all other questions to Ottawa police.
It is the first death of an Ottawa officer in the line of duty since 1983, when Const. David Utman was shot in an altercation at a city shopping centre.
This is not only tragic, but senseless. Very sad to say the least.
I have been reading some of the news reports about Kevin Gregson. One disparity is that half the reports say he was a former employee of the RCMP and others say he was still affiliated, but was just out on sick leave. Which is it and how did the story get so construed.
You know, this crime has the mark of insanity. Literally. I understand Kevin Gregson had brain surgery a few years ago. I am wondering if the cysts on the brain and their subsequent removal made him lose his mental capacity or he was a bad apple to begin with?
This reminds me of an episode of CHiP’s I saw in the 70’s where a CHP became a different person and then was diagnosed with having a brain tumor. As lenient as the RCMP has been with some of the people they have let in, I just can’t understand how this is the same person they would have hired.
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As of 6:00 PM Eastern this article has been updated on the National Post site.
Former RCMP officer being held, Ottawa police officer stabbed to death
By Matthew Coutts and Meghan Hurley
A former RCMP officer accused of stabbing an Ottawa police officer to death Tuesday morning had been removed from the force after threatening a Saskatchewan Mormon church official with a knife three years ago, telling him, “I am better with a knife than a pistol.”
Kevin Gregson, formerly an RCMP constable in Saskatchewan, is suspected of attacking Ottawa police Const. Eric Czapnik as he sat in his police cruiser outside the Emergency Department of the Ottawa Hospital’s Civic Campus at about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Const. Czapnik’s wife told the Ottawa Citizen that he had died. He was with the Ottawa Police Service for three years.
Mr. Gregson had been conditionally discharged from the RCMP for threatening to stab a Mormon bishop in Regina on May 14, 2006, after being denied a “temple recommend” — special clearance allowing access to the church’s inner sanctum.
According to documents from his dismissal hearing, Mr. Gregson placed a knife on the bishop’s desk during a private meeting and demanded entry.
“You don’t know how many ways I have been taught to kill a man,” Mr. Gregson was quoted as telling the bishop. “I would rather fight you with this knife than with a pistol. I am better with a knife than with a pistol. I can take someone out so much faster with this than any other way.”
In 2007, Mr. Gregson pleaded guilty to uttering threats and was given a conditional sentence, in part because he was diagnosed with cysts in his brain several months after the incident. He has since undergone brain surgery.
Mr. Gregson went through a native addictions counselling program at Sault Ste Marie, Ont. and became an orderly at a mental hospital there.
In 2008, an RCMP adjudication board determined that Mr. Gregson showed no remorse for his actions and there was no potential for rehabilitation. It ruled that he must either resign from the service or be fired. It is not clear whether that has happened yet.
On Tuesday, Mr. Gregson was described as being “associated” with the RCMP. Mr. Gregson’s lawyer, Israel Gencher, said he expects his client to make a brief court appearance Wednesday morning. He remained at the police station Tuesday.
Mr. Gencher said police treat every homicide as important, but given the circumstances, he expects investigators will want to be “very thorough” as they probe the stabbing.
Const. Czapnik is the first city officer to die in the line of duty since 1983, when Const. David Utman was shot in an altercation at a shopping
centre.
A visibly shaken Police Chief Vern White said at a Tuesday morning news conference that the officer died at 5:30 a.m., despite the efforts of
paramedics and hospital staff.
The suspect was subdued by two nearby paramedics and quick-thinking bystanders, Chief White said. Chief White said the slain officer was at the hospital for an unrelated incident.
“It’s great sadness that I’m here before you today,” he told a media briefing Tuesday morning. “Please let me express my deepest sympathy to the family and friends of the officer and the family of the Ottawa Police Service who are dealing with this tragedy.”
The Ottawa police major crimes investigation is continuing and charges have not yet been laid against the suspect.
Yellow police crime tape blocked off the area outside the emergency department’s door where ambulances deliver their patients. A police
officer’s pistol and a black-handled knife could be seen near a pool of blood on the ground behind an Ottawa police cruiser parked outside the ER.
The emergency room remained open throughout the incident, said Nicolas Ruszkowski, vice-president of communications for the hospital. Mr.
Ruszkowski deferred all other questions to Ottawa police.
Its’ a sad day when an officers life is taken in the line of duty. Its sad for his family and his/her colleauges. Its even more sad when the alleged culrpit is another police officer, even though the culprit here was a former member.
I don’t speak on behalf of all the other members but I feel confident in saying that all our hearts and minds are with the family of the fallen officer.
We always expect some cracked out kid to do this type of despicable act yet we find out it is us. How sad.
Rest in peace my friend, rest in peace.
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