Tasering of man by RCMP ‘unnecessary and excessive,’ police watchdog says

Kenyon Wallace (Toronto Star) – The simultaneous use of two tasers by RCMP officers on a Prince George, B.C. man who later died in police custody was “unreasonable, unnecessary and excessive,” says a new report by the force’s watchdog.

The Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP says Constables Glenn Caston and Kevin O’Donnell violated police policy when they both tasered Clay Willey at the same time while the man was already restrained at the force’s Prince George detachment.

The Commission’s report into the July 21, 2003 arrest of Willey, released Tuesday, paints a troubling picture of officers ignoring protocol and policy, investigators failing to follow up, and an institution generally hobbled by bureaucracy.

Willey was arrested after causing a disturbance near a downtown mall. During his arrest, he was pepper-sprayed, punched, kicked and handcuffed, while his feet were bound with hog-tie rope — a practice the Mounties had discontinued a year before.

The Commission chastised one officer for drawing her gun while Willey was removed from the police cruiser at the detachment, and singled out two others for pulling Willey from the cruiser by his feet, causing his body to hit the door car frame before he was dragged face down across the concrete floor to an elevator.

“No attempts were made to facilitate a more controlled transfer, despite there being four members present,” wrote Ian McPhail, interim chair of the Commission. “The members failed to treat Mr. Willey with the level of decency to be expected when he was removed from the police vehicle and transported to the elevator.”

The report also said officers should have called an ambulance for Willey, who was high on cocaine when he was arrested, and instructed EMS personnel to meet them at the detachment. An ambulance was eventually called after Willey was tasered. He suffered a heart attack on the way to the hospital and died the next morning.

McPhail criticized the RCMP for not only failing to obtain medical assistance for the man immediately, but also for failing to provide ambulance attendants with all relevant information regarding his treatment.

“One ambulance attendant indicated that when assessing Mr. Willey’s spinal concern, he asked members if Mr. Willey hit his head or anything of that nature. He was told no. However, there were various points throughout the incident where Mr. Willey may have hit his head,” the report said.

“The RCMP’s failure to communicate this information could have compromised Mr. Willey’s medical care. In addition, it does not appear that the ambulance personnel were made aware that Mr. Willey had been pepper-sprayed. That fact should have been communicated so that Mr. Willey could be decontaminated at the earliest possible opportunity.”

The report goes on to point out that investigators did not realize Willey’s cell phone, which was dropped in the parking lot at the time of his arrest, was missing, and says investigators failed to obtain preliminary accounts from the involved officers in a “timely manner.”

“Neither the criminal nor conduct aspects of the police involvement in Mr. Willey’s death were adequately investigated or addressed,” the report said.

RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson, in a letter to McPhail released with the report, agreed with most of the Commission’s findings, but stressed that evidence shows the actions of officers “did not contribute directly or indirectly to Mr. Willey’s cause of death.”

He noted that officers who may have engaged in misconduct at the time cannot now be formally disciplined because the time limitation under the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act has expired. But he said that he will issue a direction that other “formal steps be taken to identify areas where the members who interacted with Mr. Willey fell short of their professional performance.”

With the release of its report Tuesday, the Commission also said legislation should be enacted to force the RCMP to respond to complaints faster. It took the force 14 months to respond to the Willey file, said Commission spokesperson Laura Colella.

“We are adamant that these delays are not helpful to the public complaints system,” she told the Star, noting that the Commission currently has 60 outstanding reports awaiting a response from the RCMP, 22 of which were submitted more than a year ago. “I understand the RCMP needs time to investigate, but this issue is bigger…The public needs to have trust that the system works. It’s very important that these delays be addressed.”

Any recommendations made by the Commission are not binding on the RCMP.

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