RCMP Acknowledges In-Custody Treatment of Willey ‘Inappropriate’
Prince George RCMP Detachment Superintendent Eric Stubbs and North District Acting Officer in Charge, Superintendent Rod Booth
Prince George, B.C. – The Officer in Charge of the Prince George RCMP Detachment agrees with a finding in a just-released review of the 2003 in-custody death of Clay Alvin Willey, that his treatment by police officers while in custody was inappropriate.
Speaking at a news conference to respond the report issued this morning by the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, Superintendent Eric Stubbs says, "I will be arranging a meeting with Mr. Willey’s family to discuss this point."
"Some of the actions by members in the cell block do not meet my standards nor those I have set for the members of my detachment." Stubbs will not discuss the specifics of the meeting, he says it will be a private one and he has yet to arrange it. (click on photo at right for video clip)
Both Superintendent Stubbs and the Acting Officer in Charge of the RCMP’s North District, Superintendent Rod Booth, emphasize the circumstances surrounding Mr. Willey’s death occurred more than eight years ago and say a number of positive changes have occurred within the RCMP since 2003. They also point out neither the CPC nor RCMP Commissioner have issue with the level of force used in Mr. Willey’s arrest and that his death was ruled accidental, as a result of a cocaine overdose.
"Since that time, the RCMP has implemented a lot of training that helps us with de-escalation," says Stubbs, "Trying to minimize the force that we use while keeping our members safe and the public safe, as well."
When asked if Mr. Willey’s treatment when he arrived at cells – being pulled from the police vehicle by his feet while hog-tied, and dragged across a concrete floor to the elevator – was an inability on the part of the officers involved to contain their disdain for someone they’ve just engaged with, North District Superintendent Rod Booth says, "It certainly speaks to the professionalism that I expect of all the women and men who serve the North District for the RCMP."
"And certainly, if something does not meet my standard or expectation, or the expectation of Canadians," says Booth, "That’s something we need to address and look at."
A previous Code of Conduct investigation by the RCMP into allegations of misconduct by the officers involved found the allegations were unsubstantiated. Superintendent Booth says it’s unlikely another review will be launched in light of the CPC’s findings. "I would say no, at this point there have been eight reviews and investigations related to this matter." He says there are timeline issues, with even the first code of conduct investigation following outside the prescribed timeline.
However, he does concede a review today may have a different outcome. "Hindsight is 20-20," says Superintendent Booth. "I’m a decision-maker now. Perhaps, if I was faced with that decision-making choice at this point – perhaps I might have found a different finding in regards to some aspects of the allegations."
All of the officers involved in Mr. Willey’s arrest and subsequent handling at the cell bock remain active duty members. Most are no longer in Prince George.
There is ongoing civil litigation involving the RCMP and the family of Mr. Willey.
Comments
They KILLED him !!and now the BS machine is in full swing.All was caught on tape,why are these cops not charged with MURDER??
This one is going to cost em dearly,how many Millions is any ones guess..one day it could be you JQP…..
Million’s…? The crack dealer’s will be lining up at the Willey house in anticipation of this windfall.
WOW!!!
Maybe the Willey family will pass on any funds received to the victims of his B&E’s. Willey’s family receiving funds for his treatment by the RCMP just rubs salt in the wounds of Willey’s victims.
8 years!!!! seriously?? What could possibly take 8 years? Its the same with the Picton enquiry. years go buy while a serial killer works under their nose. How about taking 6 months to charge rioters in Vancouver, when they are on tape. Im not bashing the police, just the beuarcracy that that grinds everything they do to the point that justice is not served.
So this person got to party on the funds of his ill doings and now his family will get to party because of his stupidity.
So had Mr Willey survived how long would he have spent in jail for resisting and does anyone think there was a chance he could have been rehabilitated???
Sage-whether or not he was a stellar citizen isn’t the point….he was abused and tortured with tazers while he was restrained and helpless! In my mind he was murdered by these police…and they should be held accountable.
Murdered, killed? Yah right, he was the victim of his own misfortune. Bet none of you sat through the inquest.
The question is, are we a society that believes in kicking people when they are down, or one which believes in helping them when they are down? Or maybe even just a society that believes in not making things worse than they already are for an individual when they are down.
Society has said that doing what was done to this person was not proper. If that is not sufficient to those who say the person deserves it, or he was simply a victim of his own doing and not that of others AS WELL, then how can that be the socially acceptable response?
I sure do not think that kind of response is socially acceptable.
The coroner clearly stated that clay diedvas a result of the amount of cocaine in his system! That may explain why the police had to use several members to subdue him at park wood mall. The only thing in question was his treatment back at thevdetachment, which Stubbs admitted wasn’t the best. Stop talking about murder charges, he died because he used way too much cocaine, not because of the way he was treated by police, even if some of the cops behavior was inappropriate.
The root cause of Clay’s death was because he was born.
Like Clay if we were never born, we would never die.
He died because he was dragged on his face by police while he was hogtied! We’re they expecting him to be happy and compliant after doing this?
Then they proceeded to electrocute him with tazer weapons, while he was still hog tied.
When this is done in another country it’s called torture! I still call it murder, while they may not have expected that outcome when they were abusing and torturing him, the results stand undisputed. The man is dead, and without the outrageous actions of the police he would probably not have died that day.
No, I’m with upper canadian on this one, jim13135, Willey died due to the cocaine in his bloodstream. As I understand it, cocaine causes an elevated heart and respiration rate. He reportedly had a lot of that substance in his system.
I don’t believe that the (entirely unacceptable and despicable) treatment he endured while in custody was directly attributable to his death.
The fact that Clayton Willey was not a model citizen does not excuse the behaviour of the RCMP officers after they took him back to the station.
metalman.
Jim, you shoulda been at the inquest, believe me you would think differently, or maybe not…….
Metalman, you’re partly right.
As this sad situation developed, they did what they believed was needed in the circumstances presented at the time.
Ya,I`m sure Willey was in the parking lot that day handing out daisies and helping old lady`s with their shopping bags..that`s why the cops hog tied im..what a bunch of jerk eh???
Wiley, due to his cocaine consumption that day put himself into a state of excited delirium. Not much was known about it back then, and now we know that it caused the drug user to become superhumanly strong, violent, delusional and psychotic. Physiologically it is a time bomb to the heart.
Wiley was no angel and from the many posts most everyone knows it. Truth is, Clay Wiley was a henious criminal who got away with stuff far more than what he was caught and convicted for. I hope this gets printed: “someone” was the suspect in a file where someone had their forearm hacked off with an axe over a drug debt collection, but the victim refused to testify. So this “someone” got away with the crime.
The fact that Clay Wiley killed himself with a drug overdose is poetic justice.
The coke didn’t kill him. The tazers did.
This exicited delerium BS was conjoured up to deflect responsibility for the police actions. At the end of the day he was zapped repeatedly while hog tied. The original findings were that the force was necessary. Suprise! Typical RCMP coverup. We have seen repeated abuse of tazers and police force, while the investigations rarely, if ever find the police where wrong.
In this case it took a rediculous 8 years to state the obvious. The RCMP are becoming a complete farce.
Imorge, well said, and thankyou.
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