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| Do RAV Right Coalition goes to court |
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| More deaths after Taser shocks |
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| Leave to appeal Berg decision granted |
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The Do RAV Right Coalition will be in BC Supreme Court starting Monday June 20 at 10 a.m. in its legal efforts to force the province to undertake a new public consultation process on the Richmond-Airport-Vancouver rapid transit line because of RAV’s switch to environmentally damaging cut-and-cover construction.
Coalition lawyer Joyce Thayer says she will argue that the province must follow existing provincial and federal laws that guarantee the right of citizens to comprehensive and meaningful public consultation on the environmental impact of switching to cut-and-cover construction from its original plans to proceed by underground bored tunnel.
Other parties to the case include RAVCO, the organization building the line, TransLink and the federal government. BC Supreme Court Justice Robert Bauman has set aside four days to hear legal arguments.
The case was begun after RAVCO announced in late December 2004 that it would switch construction from a bored tunnel to “cut-and-cover” construction which would require digging a 40-foot deep trench along Granville Mall and up the full length of Cambie Street.
This radical design change and switch to cut-and-cover construction will be devastating, the Coalition says. It will create traffic gridlock for 2-3 years, jeopardize livelihoods, and seriously disrupt the lives of residents in the affected areas.
Since May 28, 2005, eight people have died in police custody after being jolted by Tasers. This brings the total number of such deaths since September, 1999 to 128, including 33 so far this year. In our view, no one fully understands the effects of 50,000 volts of electricity on the human body, and use of these weapons should be discontinued until better testing and research is done.
The most recent deaths:
May 28, 2005: Richard T. Holcomb, 18, Akron, Ohio
May 28, 2005: Nazario J. Solorio, 38, Escondido, California
June 4, 2005: Unidentified male, 33, Sacramento, California
June 7, 2005: Unidentified male, Las Vegas, Nevada
June 11, 2005: Horace Owens, 48, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
June 13, 2005: Michael Anthony Edwards, 32, Palatka, Florida
June 13, 2005: Shawn Pirozzi, 30, Canton, Ohio
June 14, 2005: Robert Earl Williams, 62, Waco, Texas
The British Columbia Court of Appeal has granted Julie Berg, sister of Jeffrey Berg, deceased, leave to appeal the decision of public hearing adjudicator Brian C. Weddell, Q.C. Despite opposition from lawyers representing Police Complaint Commissioner Ryneveld and VPD Constable Bruce-Thomas, Mr. Justice Donald ordered that leave to appeal be granted on the following grounds:
1. that the adjudicator erred in law in admitting into evidence and relying on an agreed statement of facts that in fact had not been agreed to by the parties to the hearing;
2. that the adjudicator erred in law by conducting a hearing that violated the principles of natural justice and denied the complainant procedural fairness; and
3. that the adjudicator erred in law by finding that David Bruce-Thomas did not commit the disciplinary default of abuse of authority by using unnecessary force on the person of Jeffrey Michael Berg causing his death...
It is expected that Ms. Berg's appeal will be heard by three justices of the Court of Appeal later this year, but a hearing date has not yet been set.
