COPS REMORSEFUL AFTER '03 ASSAULT

Not How Squad Usually Operated, Says Officer

Const. Ray Gardner mused about what might have been if a rookie officer had
spoken his mind after seeing police assault one of three troublemakers in
Stanley Park.

Const. Troy Peters has been hailed as a hero for bringing the assaults of
drug dealers Barry Lawrie, Grant Wilson and Jason Desjardins on Jan. 14,
2003, to the attention of Vancouver police authorities.

Gardner said he took pity on Peters, who saw Lawrie "pushed about" by him
and four other snarly cops, so he went over to check on Peters' feelings.

"I said to Const. Peters, 'Are you all right with this?'" testified Gardner.

"He said yes. I said, 'Perhaps you should sit in the [police] car.'

"He said no, he was all right."

"You knew something else was happening soon," suggested commission counsel
Dana Urban. "An assault?"

"Yes," admitted Gardner, one of six officers who pleaded guilty to three
counts of assault and was handed a lengthy suspension.

Police Chief Jamie Graham recommended two of the six officers -- Gabriel
Kojima and Duncan Gemmell -- be fired. (They are still constables pending
the decision by adjudicator Donald Clancy on whether their firings are too
severe.)

"I wish [Const. Peters said to stop] because we wouldn't all be here
today," said Gardner.

"Did Acting Sergeant [Jim] Kenney say anything?" asked Urban.

"No," said Gardner.

"If Kenney said, 'Let's not do this?'" asked Urban.

"We wouldn't be here," replied Gardner.

Later, during a debriefing at headquarters attended by all seven officers
at the park, Kenney became remorseful, said Gardner.

"That's not the way we operate in this squad. That's an anomaly," Gardner
quoted the acting sergeant.

"Everyone echoed the same sentiment at the table. There was a feeling of
regret over what had happened. The optics were bad."

But he denied they agreed to a cover-up -- only agreeing to "keep it in the
room" so no misunderstanding was given credence.

Urban noted Gardner testified the three victims were "thugs and bullies."

"How would you describe the police conduct?" asked Urban.

"Regrettable," replied Gardner.

"Was it the kind of conduct of thugs and bullies?"

"Yeah, it was there," admitted Gardner, who continues testifying today.