A man who says he was unlawfully arrested by Saanich Police earlier this year is upset with an internal probe that found the officer didn’t commit misconduct – despite violating the man’s charter rights.
Video shot on Andrew McLean’s cellphone in January shows a confrontation with an officer as police investigated an arson fire in the area.
“Am I under suspicion of something?” McLean is heard saying in the video, to which the officer responds that he’s checking everyone in the area and asks for identification.
McLean refused, and the officer used force to arrest him on the spot for obstruction of justice.
The Saanich man later filed a complaint with the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, and Saanich Police investigated the matter, releasing its findings on Oct. 14.
McLean’s allegations that arresting officer Const. Francisco Aviles abused his authority by detaining him and using unnecessary force were unsubstantiated, according to the report.
But while the report said Aviles had reasonable grounds to stop McLean, it determined the officer was in the wrong when it came to making an arrest.
“I agree with Sergeant Millard’s finding that Constable Aviles did not have reasonable grounds to arrest and therefore it was not justified in law,” discipline authority Insp. Terry Parker wrote.
“The evidence demonstrates that Constable Aviles’ understanding of the law as it relates to investigative detention is lacking,” the report goes on to say.
McLean said he was disappointed the report found there was no wrongdoing in the incident, calling it a “policing culture issue.”
“There is a problem within the BC Police Act that allows police to investigate police, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that is a severe conflict of interest,” he said.
A local defense lawyer said it’s not right that the report appears to excuse the arresting officer for ignorance of the law.
“It’s unfortunate that he didn’t appear to be aware of one of the fundamental limits of police behaviour,” said Paul Pearson. “The law isn’t ‘go find the bad guys and if you can, protect people’s rights.’ The law is ‘protect people’s rights, and if you can, go find the bad guys,’ and in this case, unfortunately, that got turned around.”
Saanich Police have declined to comment on the case, saying it’s still being reviewed by the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner.
The OPCC has 10 days to accept or reject the report’s findings and appoint a retired judge as a new discipline authority.
