At the public hearing into the the death of Jeff Berg at the hands of Vancouver police Department Cst. David Bruce-Thomas in October of 2000, Commission Counsel Dana Urban, Q.C. characterized the VPD’s internal investigation as “incompetent at best”. He also accused the internal investigators of ignoring a key independent civilian eyewitness and dissuading others from testifying at the hearing.

Urban said that the accounts of three civilian eyewitnesses indicated that Jeff Berg had surrendered to the police and was standing quietly when Bruce-Thomas hit him in the head or neck with his handgun and knocked him to the ground. He was then kicked in the head three times. According to Urban, expert evidence suggests that Berg was clinically dead, and therefore not resisting, when the kicks landed on his head. The pathologist’s report of the autopsy states that Berg died of a blow to the neck and had bruises and lacerations to his head and a severely bruised testicle.

Urban made his remarks at a case management conference where Berg family lawyer Cameron Ward was seeking standing to cross-examine witnesses and obtain disclosure of police reports related to the incident. Urban supported the application, to the dismay of police lawyer Bill Smart, Q.C.

After reviewing the “incompetent” internal investigation report, Crown Counsel decided not to lay any charges against Cst. Bruce-Thomas. Remarkably, although a coroner’s inquest is mandatory in this case of an in-custody police homicide, one has not been scheduled yet.

Meanwhile, Jeff Berg’s sister Julie and the rest of her family still wait for answers.

After over five years and three months, the Vancouver Police Department says that the conduct of its “crowd control unit” in a 1998 incident has been vindicated by a six thousand page, $800,000 report. The report itself has not been released yet.

In the incident, captured on videotape, about fifty police officers in riot gear emerged from the Hyatt Hotel and began clubbing people who had congregated outside to demonstrate against a visit by then Prime Minister Jean Chretien. Several demonstrators were injured and taken to hospital for treatment.

The report comes after a year-long internal investigation by the VPD, a public hearing launched by the Police Complaint Commission and aborted after several years of litigation launched by the police lawyers and a four year civil suit filed against the City. While it is never easy to estimate the costs of these undertakings, my estimate of the cost to British Columbia’s and Vancouver’s taxpayers follows:

Year-long VPD investigation: $300,000

Public hearing and related litigation: $1,500,000

Four year civil action: $500,000

Year-long external investigation: $800,000

Studies have shown that most people who complain about alleged police misconduct just want an acknowledgment of responsibility and an apology for injuries, especially where those injuries are not disabling. This case was probably no different. As a result of the City’s stubborness, taxpayers may have shelled out at least $3.1 million for an incident that lasted about 45 seconds.

The public hearing into Julie Berg’s complaint that police used excessive force in dealing with her brother resumes on Monday, March 15, 2004 with a further “case management conference”. We will be applying for standing to participate in the hearing and for disclosure of the contents of police files.

Ms. Berg has tried vainly to obtain answers from the authorities ever since her brother Jeff was killed in October, 2000 after he was assaulted by a police officer. She filed her formal complaint in November, 2000. The police officer involved, VPD Cst. David Bruce-Thomas, was never charged, there has been no Coroner’s Inquest yet (though one is mandatory) and the Police Complaint Commission public hearing has been adjourned to June, 2004, after some police witnesses refused to be interviewed by Commission counsel.

The case management conference will commence at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, March 15, 2004 in courtroom 108, 800 Hornby Street, Vancouver.

“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot”

Joni Mitchell

The provincial government’s application for an injunction has been adjourned to Friday, March 12, 2004. Supreme Court Justice Quijano put the matter over after hearing from lawyers for the Attorney General and the “Jane Does” who have been named as Defendants in the government’s civil lawsuit. The government has sued one hundred unidentified people for damages, claiming that demonstrators opposed to the construction of a large new parking lot at Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island have trespassed on public Crown land. Lawyers will be back in B.C. Supreme Court in Nanaimo on Friday morning at 10:00 a.m.

For more, please go to www.cathedralgrove.com

Spalding Gray’s body was found in the East River March 8th, two months after he disappeared from his Manhattan apartment. The brilliant actor and performance artist had been increasingly troubled in recent years, after being badly injured in a car accident in Ireland. His work and spirit will survive.