The lawyer for a Vancouver man beaten at his home by city police who went to the wrong address to respond to a domestic-dispute call says apologies by the city’s police chief do not go far enough in the case.
Cameron Ward’s comments, in a brief e-mail statement, came a day after Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu announced that police in nearby Delta will take over an ongoing internal investigation into the case.
The chief personally apologized to the victim, Yao Wei Wu, hours after the incident last week and issued two public apologies – the most recent on Friday.
“When police officers respond to the wrong address, that is a mistake. When they respond to the wrong address and assault a totally innocent occupant of the premises without provocation, that is much more serious than just ‘a mistake,’ “ Mr. Ward said from New Zealand where he is on vacation.
Mr. Ward has indicated that Mr. Wu is planning a civil suit in the case.
Chief Chu said Friday that he facilitated Delta taking over the investigation because Mr. Ward is caught up in a legal dispute involving the Vancouver police.
Mr. Ward is involved in legal action over his 2002 arrest by Vancouver police, who suspected he was going to throw a pie at former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, who was visiting the city at the time. He has won twice in B.C. courts and the matter is now before the Supreme Court of Canada.
The chief said he is not optimistic about Mr. Ward being satisfied with any investigation the Vancouver police would conduct into Mr. Wu's case. One of the two officers involved in last week's attack on Mr. Wu has been assigned to desk duties.
“Because of this complication involving Mr. Ward and the Vancouver Police Department during this investigation, I felt it better that the Delta police take it over,” Chief Chu said.
Mr. Ward was offended by the chief’s remarks.
“Chief Constable Chu’s comments about me are ill-advised and probably made in the heat of the moment. I am sure he would like to retract them once he has thought things through,” Mr. Ward wrote.
He did not elaborate. Nor did he respond to the chief’s denial of claims by the lawyer in a letter pledging civil action over the situation that police visiting Mr. Wu since the incident had tried to talk him out of hiring a lawyer.
The chief said officers have interviewed Mr. Wu several times because he filed an internal complaint against Vancouver police, but said there has been no coercion about any measures Mr. Wu might be inclined to take.
“I do not know of any basis why Mr. Ward would make that accusation.”
Chief Chu was speaking to the Wu case at a news conference held at the Chinese social services agency, SUCCESS, where the police and police complaints commissioner Stan Lowe discussed procedures for registering complaints against the police.
SUCCESS CEO Tung Chan rejected allegations by some in the Chinese media that his organization has sided with the police in the matter.
The social-services agency has provided some assistance to Mr. Wu, Mr. Chan told the news conference Friday, but declined to be specific about the nature of the help.
A spokesperson for the Delta police force said its investigators would balance speed and thoroughness in handling the file.
“This is very serious in nature,” Constable Sharlene Brooks said. “We will approach this as we do all of our investigations and will move as quickly as we can, but as slowly as we must to conduct a thorough and professional investigation into this matter.”
Mr. Wu, a 44-year-old contractor, was beaten by two plainclothes officers who came to his home last week to investigate a report of domestic abuse. They got the wrong house.
Mr. Wu has said that police rang his doorbell after midnight. When he answered, he said the officers yanked him outside and beat him. His wife and two children witnessed the attack, which left him with fractures in the bones around an eye and bruises to his knees and back. He has been unable to resume working.
