Prince George Taser investigation doesn't talk to officers
Investigators sent here to probe the RCMP’s use of a Taser on an 11-year-old boy left the city without talking to any of the officers involved.
“It may seem that interviewing the officers is a task that should have been included in the first phase of the investigation while the team was in Prince George but there is more work to be done before those interviews can take place,” West Vancouver police Chief Const. Pete Lepine said in a statement posted on his agency’s website.
Lepine was asked by the RCMP’s provincial headquarters to send a team here to investigate the April 7 Tasering of the boy following a reported stabbing at a group home. Two investigators and two spokesmen arrived on the evening of April 10 and left about 72 hours later.
“The team quickly completed the first phase of their investigation, including taking witness statements, collecting evidence and reviewing the Prince George RCMP’s operational file on the incident,” Lepine said.
The next phase of the investigation, which should establish if officers broke the law, will see the team prepare for interviews with the officers involved.
“My team and I fully support any and all efforts to get to the bottom of what happened and thoroughly examine all aspects of this incident,” Lepine said. “But my main priority is making sure my team is focused on the task at hand: conducting a fair, thorough and transparent criminal investigation and completing that investigation in a timely fashion.”
Lepine’s statement is part of his team’s commitment to transparency, he wrote, although the department did not respond Monday to a request for comment.
The Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP announced Friday it has initiated its own investigation of the matter.
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