Police must give documents to IIU after man’s death, judge rules

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This article was published 25/08/2020 (1591 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A judge has ruled the Winnipeg Police Service must release internal documents that the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba has been trying to pry loose for more than a year.

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Candace Grammond delivered her ruling in the precedent-setting case Tuesday.

“The Police Service should have no decision making power over disclosure to the IIU… The IIU’s investigation should not be hampered by a police service,” Grammond wrote in her decision.

On July 28, 2018, Matthew Fosseneuve, 34, died in police custody after being shot with a Taser.

The IIU launched an investigation into Fosseneuve’s death and repeatedly requested the notes of two WPS cadets who were first on scene the night he died.

Citing the fact cadets are not police officers, the WPS argued the IIU had no right to review their notes in the course of its probe. The cadets also refused to sit down with IIU investigators.

The IIU took the WPS to court over the case in April 2019, petitioning a judge to order the police service to release the cadets’ notes.

Lawyers representing both parties presented their arguments during a court hearing in February, at which time Grammond reserved her decision.

“I do not agree… that cadets should be treated like any other civilian employee of the WPS, or any other civilian witness for that matter,” Grammond wrote in Tuesday’s ruling.

“If that were appropriate, cadets would not be sent to potential crime scenes in anticipation of police officers arriving.”

Grammond also said there a gap in the Police Services Act—the legislation governing the IIU and law enforcement agencies in Manitoba—is what led to the dispute.

She argued that gap should be addressed by policymakers at the legislative level.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @rk_thorpe