One Montreal police officer thrust in this difficult situation recently countered this trend.
Pierre Hawey's version of a contested event has resulted in sanctions against his partner James Joseph.
Montreal police officer James Joseph, who pepper sprayed two men five years ago outside of the Sex d'Or strip club on Decarie will be sanctioned by the Police Ethics Commission after his partner Hawey failed to corroborate his description of a late-night episode involving two men.
Constable James Joseph blasted Vasilios Kyritsis and Panagiotis Polimenakos with pepper spray on November 15, 2009 at about 3 a.m.
Joseph said he did it because Kyritsis was acting in an extremely belligerent and possibly dangerous manner towards him. He offered a narrative of events that justified his actions.
Constable Hawey told the commission that he only heard Kyrtsis make obnoxious comments to Constable Joseph.
Kyritsis started the evening drinking in Old Montreal with two friends.They ended up at the La Belle Province restaurant where cash was needed. So they walked to a money-dispensing machine at the Pub Pare next door.
On the way back Kyrtsis and Polimenakos were forced to walk around a police cruiser awkwardly parked near the restaurant.
Kyritsis, for some unwise reason, decided to berate the officer for his parking technique.
"It's private property, I don't think what you're doing is right."
The cop told him, "get lost."
Kyritsis said "Ok. It's private property."
Both cops told the commission that Kyritsis told him "fuck you, you don't know who you're dealing with."
This, perhaps understandably, irritated Joseph who then came out to ask the two men a series of questions. The cop attempted to prevent the men from returning to the restaurant and the situation eventually degenerated to the point where Joseph - without any involvement of his partner Hawey - sprayed the duo.
An ambulatory eyewitness named Fabian Andrew Spencer-Gibbs (That's a cool name, I want one like that- Chimples) later backed up Kyritsis's version of events.
Kyritsis was brought to a police jail cell until about 6 a.m. when he was finally told he'd be charged for resisting a peace officer. Four months later he received a letter informing him he'd be charged with assault against Contable Joseph.
Although it took over five years, the committee finally came down against Joseph whose punishment has not yet been decided.
An honest cop! That's headline news. Punishment will probably be 2 day suspension (with pay) and he will be promoted sergeant in 6 months.
ReplyDeleteOh and I forgot to add the honest cop will be shunned by his peers and will be transferred to a menial desk job and quit the force in 6 months time...Unfortunately that's the kind of world we live in...
ReplyDeleteI am Vasilios Kyritsis.
ReplyDeleteHonest cop, well, sort of. Officer Hawey had no choice but to testify against his partner because there was no way out for him. The evidence against both cops was overwhelming. Hawey basically cut a deal to avoid going down in flames along with Joseph.
Officer Hawey was a young cop, surely new on the job, when Joseph took him for a ride along an uncomfortable road.. basically, he was put in a position where he had to lie under oath. He did the right thing and he is to be commended for that.
Your story is not entirely accurate, by the way. The incident happened in front of the Belle Province - not the Sexe D'or. There was no obnoxiousness and there were no insults directed at the police.
Officer Joseph was a belligerent and aggressive individual who went out of his way to pick a fight with someone who was well within his rights to talk to him when he was impeding traffic on private commercial property. He lied about the "you don't know who you are fucking with comment". He lied about us being drunk. He pepper-sprayed someone who was actually calmly stepping away from him without warning. He then pepper-sprayed his friend for no other reason than that there be no witnesses. He did not read me my rights. He falsified his report and got Hawey to corroborate these lies. I was charged with resisting arrest and assault, which would have ruined my name and my ability to travel to the US.
Unbeknownst to Mr. Joseph, there were 2 other witnesses (one of them, my girlfriend and the other being Mr. Specer-Gibbs). They thus lost the court case and the charges against us were dropped. They then cut a deal during the civil lawsuit. Finally, officer Joseph was convicted by the Ehtics Commission.
My old boss used to say: "Sometimes, the fuck you give... isn't worth the fuck you gonna get". I guess that's the Sicilian way of saying "you reap what you sow".
I treat people the way I want to be treated but if I get wronged, I stand up for my rights and get even.
The moment we stop standing up for our rights - we lose them.
Hopefully, this court case will serve as a reminder to the police that they are not the Law and that they are not above the law. They are mere "public servants". They are OUR servants. Many of them seem to have have forgotten this... even though "to serve and protect" is the official slogan.