Cock Throppled said:
WBD wants the cop charged with wrongful death.
I heard this too... too bad for Dad there is no offence of "wrongful death" in Canada. There is also no tort of "wrongful death" either, although we do have the
Family Compensation Act (see below).
This isn't going to happen, but if - say in a different factual situation - Crown was going to charge a cop with an offence for causing someone's death... I think it would have to be either murder or manslaughter, or maybe criminal negligence causing death. I don't really see that happening in a case like this though where there is so much as a
plausible officer safety explanation. I believe it would have to be a situation where other police officers present were willing to testify against the officer who caused the death. In the Lower Mainland we have seen a few like this in recent years (not murders mind you!), the "Stanley Park 6" convictions (which were guilty pleas) and the conviction of a North Van RCMP constable for repeatedly punching and breaking the jaw of a man who was in handcuffs in the back of a police car. Both cases, in my view, would never lead to conviction if it weren't for the evidence of other police officers. If no such evidence exists in the New West case, there will be no charges... and hence no conviction.
Police Act "charges" are a slightly more likely possibility. There are thirteen disciplinary defaults listed in the
Police Act Code of Professional Conduct Regulation. These defaults form the basis for public trust complaints and can be used during internal discipline investigations. They are:
Section 4 (1)
discreditable conduct,
neglect of duty,
deceit,
improper disclosure of information,
corrupt practice,
abuse of authority,
improper disclosure of information,
damage to police property,
misuse of intoxicating liquor or drugs in a manner prejudicial to duty,
conduct constituting an offence,
being a party to a disciplinary default,
improper off-duty conduct.
I'm not sure if any of these really apply to the New West situation. What do you guys think?
The
Family Compensation Act,
http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/statreg/stat/F/96126_01.htm, is designed to do the following:
Action for death by wrongful act, neglect or default
2 If the death of a person is caused by wrongful act, neglect or default, and the act, neglect or default is such as would, if death had not resulted, have entitled the party injured to maintain an action and recover damages for it, any person, partnership or corporation which
would have been liable if death had not resulted is liable in an action for damages, despite the death of the person injured, and although the death has been caused under circumstances that amount in law to an indictable offence.
So, basically, this is saying that if the officer's [in this case anyway] actions would have formed the basis for an action in damages (like, say the officer had just severely disable the guy) you can still sue, despite the fact that the person who would normally be the plaintiff is now dead. It'll take too long to explain it all here, but basically the defendant can only be liable for that which the deceased would have contributed to the (now) plaintiff (the spouse, parent or child). Since teenagers don't normally contribute much to their parents, the Dad wouldn't really be able to recover much. probably just a token amount from $5,000 to maybe $20,000 - although the Court of Appeal is in the practice of shooting down even those $20,000 awards for deceased children. If the deceased was a mother or father with dependant children and a spouse, then it is a whole different ball game. Could get $500,000 or more.
So, long story short.... Dad, get a lawyer and stop making comments when you don't know what the hell you're talking about.