Vancouver officer charged a year after pedestrian strike in Downtown Eastside
VANCOUVER - The BC Prosecution Service says a Vancouver police officer has been charged under the Motor Vehicle Act for driving without reasonable consideration for others, a year after a pedestrian was hit in the city's Downtown Eastside.
The prosecution service says Const. Aaron Carter faces the charge after B.C.'s police watchdog was called in to investigate the crash.
The Independent Investigations Office said in a statement at the time that a man was walking on East Hastings near Dunlevy after midnight on May 21, 2024, when he was hit by a police vehicle.
A statement from the office last year says the man was taken to hospital with serious injuries, and it forwarded a report to the prosecutor's office, saying there were reasonable grounds to believe the officer may have committed driving offences.
The prosecution service says the charge was approved by an 'experience Crown counsel with no connection' to the officer.
Carter's first appearance in Vancouver provincial court is set for June 18.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 16, 2025.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
No system to track, train lying police, lawyer says after another scathing decision
UPDATE: Ottawa police issued a statement on Monday, June 2, 2025, saying that when adverse findings are made in court about police testimony, the force relies on Crown prosecutors to relay that information. When the Crown does notify police, the findings are reviewed internally and appropriate steps are taken when warranted. "At the same time, we're always looking at ways to strengthen how we track these matters across the service to support training, accountability, and continuous learning," the statement adds. At 2 a.m. one night in March 2023, two Ottawa police officers pulled into a shopping plaza at the corner of Merivale and Baseline roads to get food at a fast food restaurant when they noticed something strange in the lot: a parked red Subaru, which was running, with someone asleep in the driver's seat. That someone turned out to be a 29-year-old man known to police. And inside the vehicle, Const. Anthony Kiwan and Const. Ali Sabeeh found everything they needed to put him away for a while. In plain view on the back seat was a prohibited Glock handgun with a round in the chamber and a prohibited over-capacity magazine capable of holding 30 rounds attached. The officers also found significant quantities of meth, cocaine, crack and Oxycodone pills. And to top it off, on his cellphone were pictures and videos of the man: Posing with 14 handguns, sometimes with multiple guns in the same image, some of which were equipped with prohibited over-capacity magazines. Preparing and packaging what looked like drugs. Flaunting large piles of cash. Everything found in car excluded during trial But last month, he walked out of the Ottawa Courthouse a free and innocent man after the trial against him collapsed. All the evidence found in the Subaru was excluded because the officers had seriously breached the man's Charter rights. They'd detained him under the guise of a sham impaired driving investigation, falsified their reports, then continued the lie in court under oath, according to the transcript of a decision read in court last month by Ontario Court Justice Mitch Hoffman. The judge found that the officers quickly realized who the man was, that he had a history of firearms offences, and that he wasn't impaired. They should have told him the real reason he was being detained — a firearms investigation — instead of continuing the ruse that they thought he was intoxicated. With the critical evidence no longer usable, the Crown agreed the man should be found not guilty on the more than two dozen firearm, drug and other charges he faced. CBC is not naming him because he was acquitted. 'Planned, audacious, contemptuous and abhorrent' Hoffman told court the Ottawa police breaches of the man's Charter rights were "wilful," "intentional," "flagrant, shocking and brazen. "It was a planned, audacious, contemptuous and abhorrent abuse of an already vast power given to the police from the first steps to its implementation, and significantly exacerbated by the joint venture of both officers to mislead and deceive the court," the judge said. "This was almost as far as possible from a technical breach or an understandable mistake as police officers can get." The man's defence lawyer, Mark Ertel, called the ruling "courageous." It's important to uphold the rights of all Canadians, he said — even if some people might find it offensive in cases like this — "because we have to maintain the integrity of a criminal justice system that has to be above reproach." Charter breaches are routinely argued in criminal courts, but after 33 years in defence law, Ertel said he's never come away with such a strongly written decision, and that it's rare for a judge to make findings of intentional deceit in police investigations and testimony. As well, the tossed-out prohibited handgun evidence was significant. "It takes a very serious affront to the administration of justice for an illegal firearm to be excluded from evidence," Ertel said. In January, CBC News reported on another Ottawa officer found by a judge to have deliberately lied in court. In that case, half a kilo of seized fentanyl and other evidence was excluded, collapsing the prosecution. Hoffman relied heavily on that Superior Court judge's decision in his ruling. No system for tracking, following up with officers Kiwan, who was hired by Ottawa police in March 2020, no longer works for the force. He resigned in May 2024, according to Ottawa Police Association president Matthew Cox. That was a few months before Hoffman ruled in August 2024 that the investigation had breached the man's Charter rights. (The decision last month was to exclude the evidence because of those breaches.) Sabeeh remains with the service on patrol. Ertel doesn't think the Ottawa Police Service has any system in place to track Charter breaches by its officers, re-educate, re-train or discipline them about those breaches, or even let them know when breaches are found to have happened in court. Cox, the head of the union representing civilian and sworn members of the Ottawa Police Service, confirmed it. "There is no system in place," said Cox, who has 21 years of policing experience. "Your regular officer is just going from call to call to call, and then having to attend court for a number of different cases, and they don't really follow up and have any knowledge of what actually happened in the case." Such a system should "absolutely" be created, Cox said — perhaps more of a buffer between police and the Crown to act as a liaison. Crown prosecutors, who see what becomes of police testimony and evidence, should be relaying any breach findings so that the officers involved can get more training and learn from it, or even be disciplined if it happens repeatedly, he said. Cox respects Hoffman's decision, but he added that "a lot" of Charter breach cases don't involve police actually lying in court. More often, it's junior officers who haven't testified much, getting tripped up by highly experienced defence lawyers. The Ottawa Police Service did not answer questions by deadline, and did not respond to similar questions about the previous case in January.
Hamilton Spectator
9 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
A murder. Alleged human trafficking. Drugs. These are the cases that have been compromised by inmate abuse by Maplehurst guards
A man who murdered his ex-girlfriend. Another accused of human trafficking. Robberies, assaults and gun charges. These are among the more than 30 criminal prosecutions that have been compromised by the violent crackdown of prisoners at Maplehurst Correctional Complex in December 2023, as affected inmates seek restitution for having their Charter rights violated by the jail. While the impact of the jail guards' conduct on a handful of individual cases has been reported, this is the first accounting of the scale of the disruption to the justice system — and it's only expected to grow. Most of the cases have yet to be resolved, but at least 11 former Maplehurst inmates have already received more lenient sentences as a result of what they endured at the Milton jail, and at least one has had his charges stayed entirely, according to court documents and interviews with more than a dozen defence lawyers. All manner of charges have been affected, from relatively minor offences to serious, violent crimes, including at least two murder cases. Abusing the very prisoners they have a duty of care to protect Linval Ritchie, who pleaded guilty to killing his ex-girlfriend , will be eligible for parole sooner than he would have if not for what occurred at Maplehurst. A judge has yet to determine how much sooner. The Star is also aware of another murder trial in which the accused have applied to have their charges stayed because of the Maplehurst incident. (A standard publication ban applied ahead of jury trials prevents the Star from identifying the case.) A stay, which is among the remedies a court can grant for Charter violations, suspends a criminal prosecution. Another potential remedy available to affected inmates — but only those convicted of their charges — is a reduction in their sentence. Among the cases that have already concluded, nearly all were resolved with a 'time-served' guilty plea, in which the Crown and defence agree to a sentence that equals the time the accused person has already spent in pre-trial custody. A judge still has to approve the sentence. A 40-year-old repeat offender charged with cocaine trafficking and gun possession in Brantford was given a 'time-served' sentence in February after getting 2-for-1 credit for the days he spent in pre-trial custody. Crown attorney Brett Moodie, who has since been made a judge, told the court that if not for the 'truly unique' circumstances of the case, in particular what occurred at Maplehurst, the Crown would 'undeniably had sought a significantly higher sentence.' Moodie spoke at length about the seriousness of the man's crimes and his lengthy criminal record, saying the aggravating factors 'spill off the page.' But there was 'no escaping' the violation by the jail, he said. Former Maplehurst Correctional Complex inmate Rene Pearle speaks with investigative reporter Brendan Kennedy about the violent, mass strip search of 192 inmates at the Ontario jail in December 2023. On Dec. 22 and 23, 2023, correctional officers in full riot gear carried out a mass strip-search of an entire unit at Maplehurst — 192 inmates — two days after an inmate sucker-punched a guard. The inmate, who was charged with assault, had already been transferred to a different jail by the time the mass strip search took place. Surveillance camera footage of the incident shows heavily armoured guards forcibly removing nearly naked inmates from their cells and walking them to a nearby hallway, where they were forced to sit with their heads bowed while guards trained pepperball guns at the backs of their heads. A judge said the video shows jail staff 'breaking the law by abusing the very prisoners they have a duty of care to protect.' While the incident imperils criminal prosecutions across the province, government officials have remained silent. Ontario's Solicitor General Michael Kerzner, who oversees the ministry responsible for provincial jails , has declined repeated interview requests. His spokesperson did not directly respond to written questions for this story and instead sent the same two-sentence statement the ministry has sent before. The ministry launched its investigation into the violent incident one day after the Star sent questions about it to Ontario's solicitor general. The ministry launched its investigation into the violent incident one day after the Star sent questions about it to Ontario's solicitor general. It says the ministry expects all correctional staff to adhere to professional standards, and that the incident remains 'under investigation' and subject to court proceedings, so they 'cannot provide further details at this time.' The Star obtained copies of the ministry's internal investigations from a Brampton court after they were filed as exhibits. They found widespread institutional failure at Maplehurst, from the jail's superintendent down to rank-and-file guards, and made negative findings against 29 staff members. The first investigation concluded last fall; the second in April. The ministry did not clarify what they meant when they said the incident remains 'under investigation.' In all, the Star has confirmed 34 criminal cases which have been disrupted in some way by the Maplehurst incident. 'That's definitely an undercount,' said defence lawyer Alison Craig, who is representing 10 affected inmates herself. Given that 192 inmates were subject to the search by Maplehurst's Institutional Crisis Intervention Team (ICIT), and more than 80 per cent of prisoners in provincial jails are awaiting trial, it's possible the incident will affect more than 100 cases, Craig said. The Ministry of the Attorney General, which runs Ontario's justice system, would not confirm the number of criminal prosecutions that have been affected or the number of applications for stays that have been filed. Attorney General Doug Downey declined to be interviewed. Boris Bytensky, president of the Criminal Lawyers' Association. Generally speaking, serious misconduct by public officials requires a remedy from the court, said Boris Bytensky, president of the Criminal Lawyers' Association. The remedy depends on a number of factors, including the seriousness of the charges, whether the alleged misconduct is systemic in nature and whether it is likely to be repeated. Bytensky, who is not representing any clients affected by the Maplehurst incident, said the more serious the misconduct, the more likely a court is to grant a stay. If all the allegations against Maplehurst officials are proven, he said, 'then it is very, very serious misconduct, and it would rise to the level the courts clearly have to send a message that this can't happen.' The Maplehurst incident has not been fully litigated to this point. Some evidence has been heard in some cases, but those cases were resolved with plea deals before definitive findings were made. Inmates who have applied for stays have alleged that jail officials breached their section 7 and 12 Charter rights, which refer to the right to life, liberty and security of the person, and the right not to be subjected to cruel and unusual treatment or punishment, respectively. The Crown has in several cases conceded the jail breached the inmates' section 8 Charter right not to be subject to an unreasonable search, but not sections 7 and 12. If the Crown conceded the more serious Charter breaches it could make the province more vulnerable to civil lawsuits and stays in other cases, lawyers told the Star. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
No system to track, train lying police, lawyer says after another scathing decision
At 2 a.m. one night in March 2023, two Ottawa police officers pulled into a shopping plaza at the corner of Merivale and Baseline roads to get food at a fast food restaurant when they noticed something strange in the lot: a parked red Subaru, which was running, with someone asleep in the driver's seat. That someone turned out to be a 29-year-old man known to police. And inside the vehicle, Const. Anthony Kiwan and Const. Ali Sabeeh found everything they needed to put him away for a while. In plain view on the back seat was a prohibited Glock handgun with a round in the chamber and a prohibited over-capacity magazine capable of holding 30 rounds attached. The officers also found significant quantities of meth, cocaine, crack and Oxycodone pills. And to top it off, on his cellphone were pictures and videos of the man: Posing with 14 handguns, sometimes with multiple guns in the same image, some of which were equipped with prohibited over-capacity magazines. Preparing and packaging what looked like drugs. Flaunting large piles of cash. Everything found in car excluded during trial But last month, he walked out of the Ottawa Courthouse a free and innocent man after the trial against him collapsed. All the evidence found in the Subaru was excluded because the officers had seriously breached the man's Charter rights. They'd detained him under the guise of a sham impaired driving investigation, falsified their reports, then continued the lie in court under oath, according to the transcript of a decision read in court last month by Ontario Court Justice Mitch Hoffman. The judge found that the officers quickly realized who the man was, that he had a history of firearms offences, and that he wasn't impaired. They should have told him the real reason he was being detained — a firearms investigation — instead of continuing the ruse that they thought he was intoxicated. With the critical evidence no longer usable, the Crown agreed the man should be found not guilty on the more than two dozen firearm, drug and other charges he faced. CBC is not naming him because he was acquitted. 'Planned, audacious, contemptuous and abhorrent' Hoffman told court the Ottawa police breaches of the man's Charter rights were "wilful," "intentional," "flagrant, shocking and brazen. "It was a planned, audacious, contemptuous and abhorrent abuse of an already vast power given to the police from the first steps to its implementation, and significantly exacerbated by the joint venture of both officers to mislead and deceive the court," the judge said. "This was almost as far as possible from a technical breach or an understandable mistake as police officers can get." The man's defence lawyer, Mark Ertel, called the ruling "courageous." It's important to uphold the rights of all Canadians, he said — even if some people might find it offensive in cases like this — "because we have to maintain the integrity of a criminal justice system that has to be above reproach." Charter breaches are routinely argued in criminal courts, but after 33 years in defence law, Ertel said he's never come away with such a strongly written decision, and that it's rare for a judge to make findings of intentional deceit in police investigations and testimony. As well, the tossed-out prohibited handgun evidence was significant. "It takes a very serious affront to the administration of justice for an illegal firearm to be excluded from evidence," Ertel said. In January, CBC News reported on another Ottawa officer found by a judge to have deliberately lied in court. In that case, half a kilo of seized fentanyl and other evidence was excluded, collapsing the prosecution. Hoffman relied heavily on that Superior Court judge's decision in his ruling. No system for tracking, following up with officers Kiwan, who was hired by Ottawa police in March 2020, no longer works for the force. He resigned in May 2024, according to Ottawa Police Association president Matthew Cox. That was a few months before Hoffman ruled in August 2024 that the investigation had breached the man's Charter rights. (The decision last month was to exclude the evidence because of those breaches.) Sabeeh remains with the service on patrol. Ertel doesn't think the Ottawa Police Service has any system in place to track Charter breaches by its officers, re-educate, re-train or discipline them about those breaches, or even let them know when breaches are found to have happened in court. Cox, the head of the union representing civilian and sworn members of the Ottawa Police Service, confirmed it. "There is no system in place," said Cox, who has 21 years of policing experience. "Your regular officer is just going from call to call to call, and then having to attend court for a number of different cases, and they don't really follow up and have any knowledge of what actually happened in the case." Such a system should "absolutely" be created, Cox said — perhaps more of a buffer between police and the Crown to act as a liaison. Crown prosecutors, who see what becomes of police testimony and evidence, should be relaying any breach findings so that the officers involved can get more training and learn from it, or even be disciplined if it happens repeatedly, he said. Cox respects Hoffman's decision, but he added that "a lot" of Charter breach cases don't involve police actually lying in court. More often, it's junior officers who haven't testified much, getting tripped up by highly experienced defence lawyers. The Ottawa Police Service did not answer questions by deadline, and did not respond to similar questions about the previous case in January.
