One Question Will Go Unanswered In Willey In-Custody Death
Prince George, B.C. – In responding to the final report from the Commission of Public Complaints Against the RCMP into the in-custody death of Clay Alvin Willey, the Vice-Chief of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council says he still feels there is one question that remains unanswered…
Eight-and-a-half years after Willey’s death, Terry Teegee says, "We’re still questioning how much the tasering and the actual process of his arrest contributed to his cardiac arrest."
"We know he took a high dose of cocaine, but how did the effects of the RCMP’s conduct contribute to that – that’s a question that needs to be answered, I think," says the Vice-Chief. "And it may go unanswered, which is troubling."
A Coroner’s inquest ruled Willey’s death accidental by cocaine overdose. In total, there have been eight reviews and investigations into the RCMP’s handling of Willey’s arrest and subsequent death in July of 2003. The CPC report found officers used a reasonable level of force while arresting Willey, but his treatment by officers back at the cell block lacked respect or decency. He was punched, kicked and pepper-sprayed during his arrest and hog-tied. Once at the cell-block, he was pulled from the police vehicle by his feet, dragged on the floor to an elevator, and tasered simultaneously by two Conducted Energy Weapons. At a news conference following the release of the CPC report on Tuesday, local RCMP said Willey’s in-custody treatment was inappropriate and say a number of measures have been implemented since 2003, including education and training that includes cell block procedures and use-of-force options. (click here for previous story)
Teegee says the bottom line is, "If you’re arrested, you shouldn’t end up dead."
A report released last year by the BC Civil Liberties Association raised concerns about the local RCMP’s treatment of First Nations, something then-Superintendent Brenda Butterworth-Carr first qualified by giving statistics on the volume and seriousness of ‘calls for service’ the Prince George detachment handles each year, then outlined steps being taken to ensure local officers had the necessary training and skills to interact with the local community. (click here, for previous story)
The Vice-Chief of the Carrier Sekani says, "We take some comfort in the fact there have been some positive changes made, but I think it has to go further, especially in regards to First Nations and Metis, and the general public, wee need to have our confidence in the RCMP restored."
Comments
The bottom line here is also
1. taking cocaine will increase the risk to your life;
2. the level of risk is increased when arrested by the RCMP.
3. the final risk increase is added if you are aboriginal …..
That is what it keeps on looking like to me.
It is high time to weed the yahoos out of the RCMP and make them the force they are supposed to be, a respected, professional force.
First I hope that this brings some closure to friends and family of Clay. Second, we need to understand that the delay confirms that shame is experienced by RCMP like everyone else. I believe that people are quick to point out other peoples mistakes and flaws, without admitting that they themselves may have made mistakes which they are ashamed of. We are all human, and we make mistakes. The important thing is we learn from them, but we need to allow people to be honest about mistakes made without attacking them as individuals. We expect RCMP to uphold the laws we want, yet we expect perfection (which doesnt exist in humans). We forget they often are in dangerous situations, dealing with the products of inadequate social structures. There are other forms of violence besides war imposed on people that are a result of inadequate social stuctures. There is also hunger, poverty, and scarcity to name a few. Our intolerance of mistakes made by RCMP only makes them feel an us vs. them attitude out of self defense. They get defensive because when we criticize their every move, they lose a sense of connection and belonging to their community. Remember that they work to provide for their families, and to protect their communities.
All I can say is that if their actions were intended to cause death, I believe the injuries would have been a different nature, and probably more severe. I dont argue that the behaviour wasnt excessive, but I believe that the reason the investigation took so long was because of a common sense of shame in the department. I dont know anyone who openly talks about their experiences of fear and shame. We fear talking about shame because we fear being told we are unworthy of love and connection, and hence why accountability from government is difficult to obtain. It comes down to human emotions, and our fear of being rejected.
If we removed medical licenses from every doctor that made a mistake they regretted, we would have no practicing doctors. We need to be supportive on discussions about mistakes, because that is how we learn and improve. If we are intolerant to human mistakes, we only encourage behaviours like deceit,and lying. If we truly want accountability, we need to change our way we react to other people. Understanding human emotion is crucial to confronting problems. You cant numb feelings such as fear, shame, sadness, without indirectly numbing love, joy and connection.
Lets get down to the root of the issue and that is the tasering of Wiley everybody wants to cruxify the RCMP for tasering him numerous times but the reality of the situation is we weren’t there and the police made judgement calls.
Everybody it seems wants the police to use less deadly force but then they want them to treat the arrested with kid gloves for crying out loud he was strung out on cocaine. You can cite me numerous articles about the effect of drugs on a person but I don’t care who you are if your high you are one of 2 things peaceful or violent Wiley was most deffinitely in the second category.
People said there were other options to dealing with Wiley other than tasering him but face it the police have tasers and it is a less lethal means of controling someone and it was readily available where as the other means of less lethal force were not readily available given that fact they used a snap judgement. That is wherein the problem lies did or did they taser him to many times? Imo they used what was right there right now to control him it was unfortunate that he died while in custody but because he was an indian it now becomes a matter of “Police brutality” Boo Hoo.
zyblxteu, I would guess that Dearth isn’t a violent drug user who resists arrest, so I don’t think he’ll have too many run-ins.
Well……last week in Vancouver: reported break in at a bank. Just after a guy is walking out to his garbage can with a bag in his hand.VPD jump him and give him some boot rubs. Bad luck ? I’m just sayin’ it happens .
Very well said lilmiss2010. Thank you for your post.
Jus what makes you think you need/are/have too be a law biding citizen???
What planet you from ,heheheh!
I’d give em shit and push em in it!!
THERE RECORD IN THIS PROVINCE SPEAKS VOLUMES DO YOU NOT THINK????
Nice to see some reasonable opinions surfacing here.
metalman.
I have watched the videos and like I said do not condone the actions of the officers but maintain that Willey is responsible for his own actions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyyphuxM8Xg
Kind of shows the state of extremely high individuals and what the police deal with. Saw this guy on the news after he got out of jail and he had straightened his life out, been a few years so don’t know if it still true.
Hey that guy wasn’t wearing a seat belt.
Ok,I`m FBI, for those of you who dont understand the acronym…I`m a pretty big 1st nations guy. I`v had 1 too many run ins with the law aka(JERKOFFS) and have never suffered even a handcuff ring around my wrist and most occasions released without charges even being laid..You do drugs and go out in the public to do stupid things you get arrested,I`m sure had he gone peacefully the chances he could have been released that evening would have climbed substantially…You need to stop trying to put this guy on a pedestal and understand the RCMP were simply doing their jobs…
Thank you vulgar for being realistic.
And zyblxteu, Wiley’s record spoke volumes too.
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