Charges dropped against CPS officers accused of misconduct in pedestrian fatality
Client: Grant Maveal, T.K. Rutherford and Randall MacDonald
Charge: Negligence
Sentence: charges dropped
Anger has greeted the dropping of charges against three Calgary police officers accused of negligence in how they investigated a collision that killed two pedestrians in 2012.
At a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday presided over by retired CPS supt. Paul Manuel, charges under Alberta’s Police Act of discreditable conduct and neglect of duty were withdrawn against constables Grant Maveal, T.K. Rutherford and Randall MacDonald.
During the hearing, which lasted a few minutes, no explanation was given for the withdrawal of charges filed under Alberta’s Police Act after officers failed to take a breathalyzer test of a man suspected of plowing his Volkswagen Jetta into Edyta Wal, 23, and Chris Turner, 25, while the two were in a crosswalk at Macleod Trail and 90th Avenue on Aug. 25, 2012.
It was later learned through police notes that the driver had told at least one officer soon after the incident that he’d been drinking heavily before the collision and that he indicated he’d been driving 90 km/h in a 60 km/h zone.
No charges against the 21-year-old man were ever laid.
A lawyer for Wal said there’s been no proper explanation given to him or the families and that a meeting promised to do so sometime since a previous Oct. 6 hearing never happened.
“I thought they were going to explain it to the public (at Wednesday’s hearing), what the rationale was, so there’s a transparency problem here,” said Tom Engel.
“It’s a problem because they’ve tried to sweep this under the carpet — it’s why there’s been such a long delay in getting to this.”
Given the lack of information on the case, “I’d be keenly interested to know how (Maveal’s) failure to screen for alcohol isn’t discreditable conduct,” added Engel.
He said police claims the driver was above suspicion because EMS personnel involved didn’t believe there was alcohol in the driver’s system are unacceptable.
In 2014, the families filed a complaint with CPS, alleging the constables at the scene of the collision failed to properly investigate.
In it, they said CPS told them alcohol wasn’t a factor in the crash that killed their loved ones.
The process and the dropping of charges is “a joke,” Wal’s father, Ziggy Wal, said Wednesday.
“It’s nine years of the same story — I don’t have an answer, it’s very sad for me,” said Wal, who lives in the Toronto area.
He said there’d been little communication with CPS leading up to Wednesday’s decision other than he’s been told new evidence has emerged in the case.
Engel and Wal said they’ve been told they’ll be briefed by CPS on the decision on Dec. 6.
But on Wednesday, Wal said he doesn’t have high expectations and that the damage has already been done by both an allegedly drunk driver and the CPS’s followup.
“There’s no winner in that case, the loser will be me until the end of my life,” he said.
A lawyer representing Rutherford said he can’t discuss details of the decision due to the possibility of further action, but denied there’s been a lack of transparency.
He said it was “well-researched by the two lawyers acting for the prosecution.”
“They came to the absolutely right decision,” said Alain Hepner, adding his client and his colleagues investigated the incident properly and within the law.
“I’m not sure (the officers involved) did anything wrong.”
But Engel said the case is yet another example of a lack of accountability when police investigate themselves, also noting the man presiding over the disciplinary hearing is a former high-ranking CPS member.
That investigations of police be conducted independent of law enforcement services is one of the recommendations of a recent review of the Alberta Police Act, he said.
“I’m pretty pessimistic the solicitor general will adopt that because it’ll cost more money,” said Engel.
He also said Alberta should be more in line with B.C., where reasons for decisions over police discipline are more publicly stated.
In a statement, CPS said the duration of the case is “completely unacceptable” and that since 2012, laws on gathering evidence such as blood or breath samples have been updated.
“Legislative changes that came into effect in 2019 allow peace officers to gather evidence of impairment (including breath or bodily samples) based upon suspicion alone, which has greatly assisted our efforts to identify and remove impaired drivers from our roadways,” they said.
“We have made many changes internally and continue working with the province to change the Police Act to ensure delays like this do not happen again.”
A spokesperson said reasons for the charges being withdrawn in the Wal-Turner case wouldn’t be detailed until the two families are briefed next week.
Scheduling problems have been a factor in delaying the meeting, said CPS, though Engel said he and the families have always been available.
Source: Calgary Herald