COP'S EVIDENCE 'FALSE AT WORSE'

Judge Throws Out Charges Against Accused Drug Dealer

An accused drug dealer had his charges tossed after a judge accepted
his evidence over that of a city police officer, who was criticized
for his inconsistent testimony.

"The constable's evidence proved inaccurate at best and completely
false at worst," said Court of Queen's Bench Justice Eric Macklin in
the case of [name redacted], 20.

The judge dismissed the 2005 charges at the Crown's request
following an Oct. 9 ruling that police had conducted an "abusive,
unlawful and unreasonable" search.

[name redacted] had been charged with possession of methamphetamine
for the purpose of trafficking and possession of stolen property
after police pulled him over for an improper lane change and
eventually found 14 grams of speed.

Const. Christopher Tagg testified he asked [name redacted]
for identification, but received none, and said he was also not
given either vehicle registration or insurance.

However, under cross examination, Tagg was shown a no-insurance
ticket he had issued on which he had written he had been provided
with a handwritten insurance tag.

He was also shown a ticket issued to [name redacted] by his partner
for having no driver's licence on which it was written an interim
operator's licence had been provided.

[name redacted] testified he had handed over his identification and
vehicle papers and also said the drugs weren't found until a third
search by Tagg after the officer had said he knew he had drugs and
was going to find them.

"There are obvious inconsistencies between the evidence of the
accused and that of Tagg and there were obviously inherent
inconsistencies in the evidence of Tagg himself," said Macklin. "I
believe the evidence of (name redacted)."

Defence lawyer Akram Attia called it "very disconcerting" and said
in cases where the accused does not have corroborating evidence, the
police are believed.