WHISTLEBLOWER COP SICKENED BY BEATING

VPD Rookie Urged To 'Take A Walk' During Third Attack

After watching in disgust as five of his fellow police officers punched and
kicked two Granville Street drug dealers they had taken to Stanley Park,
Const. Troy Peters told a police complaints hearing yesterday, he didn't
have the stomach to witness a third beating.

A recent recruit to the Vancouver Police Department, Peters was paired with
Const. James Kenney -- his field trainer for the night shift on Jan. 13-14,
2003.

Peters told the hearing he and Kenney were standing a few metres from the
five officers he saw beating Jason Desjardins in the Third Beach parking
lot when Kenney turned to him and said, "You might want to take a walk for
this one. It's going to be the ugliest of the three."

Kenney was allegedly referring to Grant Wilson, a street bully with more
than 60 criminal convictions who made his money selling fake cocaine and
marijuana in the 1100-block Granville Street.

Peters said he walked back to his cruiser.

"I was disgusted. I was ashamed to be wearing the [VPD] uniform at that
point. I didn't want any part of it," said Peters.

"I had a sick feeling in my stomach."

Peters said Kenney apologized for putting him in that position when they
drove back to VPD headquarters.

"He said [beating the three victims] wasn't his style, but it was the style
of the other guys and he had to work with them on a day-to-day basis."

Peters said Kenney then related an experience with his training officer
when he was in Peters' shoes.

"[Kenney] did say that he witnessed his field trainer use excessive force
with a male in an alley while he was on [field training]," Peters testified.

He also recalled a brief conversation with Const. Gabriel Kojima -- one of
two fired constables who is fighting to be reinstated through the hearing
- -- as the two of them walked to VPD headquarters for a debriefing on the
incident.

"[Kojima] said, 'Now, that's the s--- we signed up for, isn't it?'" Peters
recalled, adding Kojima wore "a bit of a smirk on his face."

Peters said he and the other six officers who were in the parking lot all
spoke during the debriefing.

He said Kenney made a point that striking Wilson in the face was a bad idea
because it would give credence to Wilson's claims of police brutality.

When the conversation turned to covering up the incident, Peters said,
Kenney suggested they not speak about it to anyone but each other.

He said Kenney warned him "there could be some repercussions" if the
information got out and sparked an internal investigation.

Peters has contradicted the evidence of Const. Brandon Steele -- one of the
six officers who pleaded guilty to assault and one of the four who were
only suspended, not fired -- on most of the important points.

Under cross-examination, Peters was tripped up on his evidence about the
source of light at the scene in the parking lot at 5:30 a.m. in the middle
of winter.

While he staunchly insisted there was "natural light coming from the sky"
because "the sun was coming up a bit," Kojima's lawyer David Crossin
produced evidence that sunrise that morning was at 8:02 a.m.

Peters' cross-examination is scheduled to continue today.