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West Van officer gets 21 days of house arrest for drunken assault
本帖最後由 Lik 於 2009-7-30 13:58 編輯
http://www.vancouversun.com/news ... /1844210/story.html
West Van officer gets 21 days of house arrest for drunken assault
He has quit drinking and claims no memory of the incident
BY NEAL HALL, VANCOUVER SUNJULY 30, 2009
A West Vancouver police officer who had consumed 25 drinks before assaulting an innocent man was sentenced Wednesday to three weeks in jail, but will be allowed to serve his time under house arrest.
Griffin Gillan, who had been a West Vancouver police officer for 13 months, pleaded guilty and apologized in court to the victim, Firoz Khan, for his actions. He also said he has quit drinking.
"This is a very serious assault. Mr. Khan is an innocent bystander," Vancouver Provincial Court Judge Jane Watchuk said, pointing out that Gillan didn't just deliver a single blow but engaged in four separate assaults.
Gillan was extremely drunk and off-duty in downtown Vancouver last Jan. 21 when he confronted Khan, a newspaper delivery man who was delivering a stack of newspapers to the Hyatt Regency Hotel at about 2:30 a.m.
Gillan, 25, began drinking in West Vancouver while watching a Canucks hockey game on TV with two other off-duty officers that night: Jeffrey Klassen, 38, of the New Westminster police, who was also a use-of-force instructor for police training at the Justice Institute of B.C.; and Blair Tanino, a Delta police officer.
The trio later went to Vancouver and continued drinking at two clubs on Granville Street.
After consuming 25 drinks, Gillan hitched a ride from the Roxy nightclub and confronted Khan outside the Hyatt.
"Buddy, I need to know how to get to Broadway and Cambie," Gillan told Khan, 47.
"Give me a second," Khan said, trying to balance a stack of 75 papers on his shoulder.
"You f---ing come here right now," Gillan ordered, grabbing Khan by the lapels, kneeing him in the stomach and taking him to the ground.
When Khan asked why Gillan was hitting him, Gillan replied, "You're under arrest."
"Why, what for?" Khan asked. Gillan didn't answer. He became angry and forced Khan back down on the pavement, then called to his off-duty buddies, still drinking at the Roxy on Granville, to ask for backup.
Gillan held Khan's head down with his foot until his two buddies took a cab to the Hyatt and assisted Gillan. One of the officers, Klassen, has also been charged with assault and faces trial next year.
Gillan's sentencing hearing was told that Klassen punched Khan in the back of the head three or four times and yelled: "Stay down or I will kill you."
When Khan called for help and asked bystanders to call police, Klassen allegedly said: "We are the police."
The off-duty Delta officer was not charged and is expected to testify as a Crown witness against Klassen.
The court was told the arresting officer, identified only as Const. Jaswal, who had graduated from the police academy only two weeks earlier, recognized Klassen as his instructor at the police academy.
Jaswal was asked to arrest Khan, who was referred to by one of the off-duty officers as a "**** rat," and he handcuffed Khan. But witnesses at the scene complained that Jaswal had made a mistake and that Khan was the victim, not the perpetrator.
Jaswal uncuffed Khan and took him into the lobby of the Hyatt, then conducted further investigation, eventually arresting the three off-duty officers. Gillan became belligerent and kicked Jaswal's police car and spat on it.
Gillan said he had no memory of the assault and his subsequent behaviour.
In imposing the three-week sentence of house arrest, the judge ordered Gillan to be in his residence between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. each night, and to attend counselling for anger management and substance abuse during a six-month probation period.
Crown prosecutor Ralph Keefer had asked the judge to impose a jail sentence of up to six months for Gillan's crime. The defence asked for a conditional discharge or a suspended sentence.
Gillan is still facing a disciplinary hearing by the West Vancouver police. He is suspended without pay, has lost $35,000 in wages and is destitute, the court was told.
Khan is also destitute and unable to work, his lawyer, Mobina Jaffer, told reporters outside court.
"Mr. Khan is not a vengeful person," she said of her client. "He's a very kind man."
But he suffers lasting effects from the assault and has been told by his doctor that he cannot drive, Jaffer explained.
"He's working very hard to get back to work," said the lawyer, who is also a Liberal senator.
Asked if Khan planned to file a civil suit against his assailants, Jaffer said: "He has not decided that."
Khan and his wife said their lives have changed since the assault.
"I now have to take care of three kids and my husband," wife Rabida Khan told reporters. |
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發表於 2009-7-30 13:57
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