RCMP Watch

11 Feb 2006 - Globe and Mail 

VANCOUVER - An RCMP officer in Merritt has been charged with aggravated assault, forcible confinement and two counts of obstructing justice after a complaint by a local man who accused police of beating him and dropping him off in a remote area.

Constable Saxon Peters, who has been suspended with pay since the alleged incident this past August, is scheduled to appear before the Provincial Court in Kamloops to answer the charges. A date for that appearance has not been set.

A second officer who was also allegedly involved also remains suspended with pay. Criminal charges are not pending in the second officer’s case, but a code of conduct review is ongoing.

Constable Peters, the second police officer and an auxiliary constable who has since had his status revoked were allegedly working Aug. 19, when Glenn Shuter, an aboriginal man, was severely beaten and dropped off in the bush.

Mr. Shuter, 26, claims that police accused him of stealing a bicycle and that he was punched in the face, midsection and ribs by one officer while two others watched. The beating lasted 10 minutes, Mr. Shuter alleged, and it left him with busted teeth, a black eye and a swollen ear.

Mr. Shuter also said that he was driven about 10 kilometres out of town and dropped off.

The term “starlight tours” has been used to describe the controversial police practice of transporting someone to an area from which they have to walk back a long distance.

In 2004, two Saskatoon police officers were fired 14 years after 17-year-old Neil Stonechild froze to death on the city’s outskirts, after being in custody. The officers are appealing the decision, saying they never saw the teenager that night.

Vancouver police have also had their own problems. Two officers were fired for their roles in the beatings of three suspected drug dealers after taking them from Granville Street to Stanley Park.