Doug Thompson was found dead in a city boarding house last September, and police officers gave his body to social services without checking his wallet or cell phone for ways to notify his next of kin. It took a week for his family to find out the 61-year-old had passed away of natural causes.
Andrew Thompson [an Ottawa police officer] filed a complaint, which resulted in internal discipline for the four officers. "We weren't satisfied with that given the seriousness of the negligence on their part," Thompson told the Standard- Freeholder earlier this year. "They've made a huge mistake."
The Ontario Civilian Police Association hearing will now review the charges laid against the four men. Thompson and his family also filed a $250,000 lawsuit against the police, city services and the coroner's office involved in the burial.
5 comments:
There is also that awful case in Montreal, the Vilanueva Inquest:
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Shooting+unjustfied+expert+tells+Villanueva+inquest/3839768/story.html
Good for Andrew Thompson. (And thank you for the link to my post.)
(and thanks to beijing york too for the montreal link.)
Yabbut the point I was making, using Andrew Thompson's family complaint as an example, is that civilians rarely get the same kind of treatment. For one thing, they may not know how to navigate the system.
All families should have their concerns addressed quickly and fairly. It only took 2 months for the Thompsons to get a hearing.
Clickable link
for the Villanueva inquest story.
The complaint was filed immediately, took 4 months for the Cornwall Police internal investigation conclude and the Chief to recommend the informal discipline. Then it went to OCOPS and it took them 7 months to charge the officers formally. The hearings for the officers are September and November of 2011. Exactly 2 years since the death for the hearing. I don't think that it was addressed quickly.
Thanks for the update, Anonymous.
WTF? If it takes someone who knows how the system works 2 years to get a hearing into the mis-handling of a family member's death, imagine how civilians get treated. Their complaints are likely delayed until the officers in question take their retirement.
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