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The RCMP Beat (ing) Goes On - Mantler Trial - 18 Months suspended sentence (post #144)

Wetcoaster

By Wetcoaster
in Off-Topic General

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Wetcoaster Canucks First-Line

Wetcoaster

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Yet another embarrassing "fox pass" for the RCMP caught on video Friday. This one from Kelowna. Kelowna RCMP Const. Geoff Mantler has been pulled off the street after the video became public and he is being investigated both criminally and per code of conduct.

This RCMP member should make sure he plays for the prison soccer team - he packs a real wallop with that kick. blink.gif The officer must not have had his Taser with him.

Video courtesy of a local reporter, Kelly Hayes who happened to be on the scene and captured the events on his I-Phone - the kick is at about the 20 second mark:

The RCMP management press conference:

TV report:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbdareHU4Ik

A Kelowna Mountie has been assigned desk duties after a disturbing video of a police officer kicking a suspect in the head during an arrest was made public.

Kelowna RCMP Const. Geoff Mantler has been placed on administrative duties after the video was uploaded to the Internet Friday.

At a hastily called press conference Friday afternoon, Supt. Bill McKinnon of the Kelowna RCMP detachment said the officer will be subject to criminal and internal investigations.

Police received a call Friday morning reporting that a male employee of the Harvest Golf Club in Kelowna was on the property with a shotgun, said McKinnon.

He said witnesses heard shots fired and said the man then left the scene in a pickup truck, and that officers soon tracked him down and arrested him. A 12-gauge shotgun was seized in the incident.

Shortly after the incident, McKinnon was given a videographers' footage of the arrest.

The video shows the suspect — identified by Global B.C. as Buddy Tavares — being ordered to his hands and knees by police and, after he assumes the position, an officer appears to step up and kick him in the face.

The footage, which has since gone viral on media outlet www.castanet.net, was taken by Kelowna-based journalist Kelly Hayes, who heard a police emergency call Friday morning about the shots fired.

"The chit-chat on the scanner was about a man with a gun at the golf course firing off shots," Hayes said.

He said he arrived at the golf club by car just as the RCMP moved in, only to be confronted with an out-of-control pickup truck coming straight at him.

"The guy was coming right at me in his vehicle," Hayes said. The RCMP officers on scene, with their guns drawn, managed to stop the silver pickup. Hayes said they ordered the driver to get out of the vehicle and he was slow to obey, but did eventually get out. From there, Hayes said it got ugly.

"They pulled the vehicle over at gunpoint and a male in his 50s was taken to the ground," he said. "As he was going to the ground, the alleged suspect was kicked in the face," he said.

The man who was kicked was bleeding profusely, said Hayes. He recalls how the suspect "was slow to react to everything and it wasn't happening as fast as [the officers] wanted."

The Mounties, he notes, had plenty to be cautious about. "The officers were reacting on the information they had that there was a man with a gun who has a possible brain injury."

McKinnon said the man who allegedly fired the shots, since identified as Tavares, is a golf club employee currently on disability leave, following a brain injury suffered in a motorcycle accident last summer.

The man had a permit to fire the gun for the purpose of scaring geese off the golf course, but McKinnon would not clarify if that was what the man was doing Friday.

"I have reviewed that video, and I have ordered a statutory investigation of excessive force as well as a code of conduct investigation in relation to the manner in which the officer executed his duties," McKinnon told the news conference.

The officer joined the Kelowna RCMP immediately after graduation from the force's academy in July 2007, McKinnon said. He said it was up to RCMP provincial headquarters in Vancouver to decide if the officer would be suspended.

Friends of Tavares on Saturday reportedly confirmed he had been in a motorcycle crash in the summer, and said he was an "easy-going, non-violent guy."

Tavares is "mild-mannered, never bothered anybody," one of his friends told Global B.C. "It is just totally unnecessary for Buddy to get beat up and kicked in the face as he was trying to lie down," the friend added.

"That was a really cheap shot from a cop to do something like that," another friend told Global B.C., which reported that Tavares remains in RCMP custody, possibly facing a charge of careless use of a firearm, according to his sister.

B.C. Civil Liberties Association executive director David Eby said the allegations are the latest in a long list of police misconduct and the use of excessive force.

He said the association has been asking for an independent body to be set up to investigate allegations of police brutality.

"It is a really disturbing piece of video," said Eby of Friday's footage. "It is clearly an incident that needs thorough investigation.

"It was a dangerous situation, but police are trained to be calm and cool. It is no excuse for inappropriate use of force."

Eby said he did not see the man resist the arrest in any way. "I have a hard time seeing where the threat was," he said.

He thinks an investigation by the RCMP on its own will not help.

"Part of the problem is the RCMP will investigate themselves," he said.

http://www.theprovin...l#ixzz1AWEqZdwB

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bjh Junior Prospect

bjh

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What is with these testosterone junkies running around always hoping to inflict some physical damage on someone?

Good lord. Go fight in UFC and stop getting jobs in law enforcement.

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bjh Junior Prospect

bjh

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You know what's weird? I've NEVER had a bad situation with a police officer. They've always been helpful and courteous. MAYBE that's because I never put myself in a position to have to deal with them under less than desirable circumstances. What a concept!

Weird.

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Bob.Loblaw Canucks First-Line

Bob.Loblaw

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You know what's weird? I've NEVER had a bad situation with a police officer. They've always been helpful and courteous. MAYBE that's because I never put myself in a position to have to deal with them under less than desirable circumstances. What a concept!

Weird.

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markssscanucks Junior Prospect

markssscanucks

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I know the victim of this horrific assault, he gets paid and is licensed to use his gun to scare the geese away from the harvest golf club here, he is a very nice man with no violent disposition whatsoever, the pig responsible (yes I said pig) should be fired immediately and jailed this is disgusting and wrong. If nothing happens of this we should go and start sh!t kicking pigs. I don't trust pigs investigating pigs, we need a citizen review board to investigate these instances

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hockeyfan87 Abbotsford Star

hockeyfan87

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First off, to all the people with ignorant comments saying he shouldn't have put himself in a position to come into contact with the RCMP in such a manner you should re-evaluate both the videos and your common sense.

The suspect/victim was on all fours when he took the severe kick to the head from the police officer. He was in a prone position at the police officer's command and was subsequently given a worse injury than most of us will ever suffer in our life time.

This could happen to any of us. It's cliche but it's true. I have yet to find myself in contact with police in a situation similar (at gun point) but if i ever do I expect to avoid BRAIN DAMAGE when I'm cooperating with them.

Police need power and discretion to have the ability to fight crime effectively in our society but this is yet another example of an officer who probably lacks experience and proves that the screening process to become a member of the RCMP is ineffective.

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hockeyfan87 Abbotsford Star

hockeyfan87

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You know what's weird? I've NEVER had a bad situation with a police officer. They've always been helpful and courteous. MAYBE that's because I never put myself in a position to have to deal with them under less than desirable circumstances. What a concept!

Weird.

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Offensive Threat Canucks Third-Line

Offensive Threat

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You need to be wary of all cops, not just RCMP. I had a New Westminster cop grabbed me and threaten to arrest me for tampering with an investigation or something when they came to my house looking for a guy at my party ,who I didnt know. They found him and started giving me crap for not pointing him out right away. I said I didnt know him so how could I point him out for them. I should have told them to wait on the curb while I checked to see if anyone with the name they gave me was there. But I let them in. Wont happen again.

-apparently the guy was wanted for a immigration thing. Turns out hes from the Ivory Coast. Guess he got it straightened out as hes still here a few years later.

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RUPERTKBD Canucks Hall-of-Famer

RUPERTKBD

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It's unclear at this point whether the victim has committed any offense, but the kick to the face was completely uncalled-for.

The body language of the second officer tells me that she found it excessive as well. Of course "the code" dictates that she likely won't admit it.

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markssscanucks Junior Prospect

markssscanucks

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Watch the press conference by RCMP Superintendent Bill McKinnon where under questioning from reporters he admits that the victim (Tavares) had permit for the shotgun and a permit to use it on the golf course to scare geese. After first claiming Tavares was a former employee he changes that and says he is an employee who is on leave after further questioning from reporters.

And even if Tavares has contravened the law it does not justify the level of force applied in the circumstances based upon the video evidence.

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