COPS USED EXCESSIVE FORCE: SUIT

Homeowner Files Claim Over Taser Drama

An Ottawa man who says he was tasered and illegally detained by Ottawa
police executing a search warrant is suing six officers and the police
services board for $175,000.

A statement of claim filed Tuesday, on behalf of Yvon Richer, alleges
Ottawa police used excessive force, breached his right to freedom from
unreasonable search and seizure, and right to freedom from illegal
detention.

Richer's case made headlines May 21, 2006, when tactical officers
swooped in on the Navan Rd. homeowner, who they suspected of having a
cache of illegal weapons, shot him and his dog with a Taser and left
without finding any guns.

At the time of the incident, Richer told the Sun his marijuana plants
were missing following the police search.

Statements of claim contain allegations which have not been proven in
court.

Among the claims in the document is an allegation that Det. Francine
Taillefer provided "false and misleading" information to a justice of
the peace in an appendix to information used to obtain the search warrant.

The claim alleges the appendix stated Richer is well-known to police
as a drug dealer with a lengthy criminal record that included a 1998
rap for careless storage of a firearm.

But Richer has only one 1992 conviction for possession of marijuana
for the purposes of trafficking, the claim says.

Richer's lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon, said yesterday his client has no
other record and no charges were ever laid as a result of the search.

'LIKE GANGBUSTERS'

"They went barrelling in there like gangbusters," said Greenspon,
adding his client has never received an apology or
explanation.

Richer's statement of claim says he was returning from a morning
snowmobile ride on his 50-acre property, when, at around 9:15 a.m., a
vehicle pulled into the driveway and a voice behind him screamed, "Get
on the ground!"

That's when, he alleges, he was tasered.

"He rolled down his front stairs and was forced on his stomach by
several officers. Officer B placed his knee on Richer's back and
Officer C had his foot on Richer's head. Officer D cuffed him and
emptied his pockets. Officer B, C, and D then dragged Richer down his
gravel laneway to the edge of the road where he was told to rest his
head on the bumper of a police vehicle," the claim alleges.

It says Richer was then put in a cruiser and detained for about two
hours.

The warrant listed two .45-calibre handguns, three sawed-off shotguns,
a box of 200 sticks of dynamite, ammunition and crack cocaine as
subjects of the search, the claim says.

Richer's claim says he offered no resistance to police to prompt the
tasering and handcuffing.

Richer alleges that as a result of the police conduct, he suffered a
variety of injuries, including cuts, bruises, numbness to the right
side of his body, muscle weakness, memory problems and post-traumatic
stress disorder.

A city spokesman confirmed they had received the claim and are
preparing a defence.