As Attorney-General, Mr. Oppal is ultimately responsible for ensuring that this deadly shooting in virtually unheard-of circumstances is properly investigated and resolved in a just manner. But when Wally Oppal the Attorney-General offers his legal analysis, attached to it is the credibility he earned when he was Wally Oppal the judge -- initially on the B.C. Supreme Court, beginning in 1985, and then on the B.C. Court of Appeal in 2003. (He resigned from the bench last year to enter politics.) But Wally Oppal the appeal court judge would not have given a legal opinion on the basis of a summary of facts. There is nothing at all judicial in the analysis Mr. Oppal is offering.
Mr. Oppal's version of events is an abbreviated form of the description that the officer, Constable Paul Koester, gave in his statement of defence in a civil suit filed by the parents of the dead young man, 22-year-old Ian Bush of Houston, B.C.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060911.EOPPAL11/TPStory/Comment
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Wally Oppal's Performance Is Reviewed ... From Outside British Columbia
Posted on Tuesday, September 12 at 08:32 by AnonymousContributed By
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Globe and Mail for behaving like a real newspaper. That's a rare event in <br />
today's world.<br />
<br />
These remarks about Wally Oppal's performance needed to be said. If <br />
we treasure the notion of justice, we can't make the mistake of thinking <br />
that silence is respectful. Respectful, relevant questions create justice <br />
for all. Too bad the B.C. Attorney General needed to be reminded of <br />
that. <br />
<br />
Wally Oppal actually needs to make an honest statement as to why he <br />
stepped down from the B.C. Court of Appeal and threw himself in <br />
amongst the Campbell government at this critical time in B.C.'s history.<br />
<br />
If it's something to do with the fall-out from The Legislature Raids, I <br />
wish he'd say so. But if so, how can he go along with this notion of <br />
cancelling the fall session of the B.C. Legislature? Sure it's happened <br />
before ... but Premier Campbell shut down the spring session, too, <br />
before it could properly debate the budget ! <br />
<br />
Many people thought closing the Legislature had a lot to do with evading <br />
questions which will undoubtedly come up when the trials of Basi and <br />
Virk, then Basi, Duncan, and Young which actually began to get going in <br />
June. It's pretty darn difficult to keep up with the postponements. <br />
<br />
September 18 in B.C. Supreme Court is the next date to watch for. <br />
<br />
My blog: <a href="http://bctrialofbasi-virk.blogspot.com/">http://bctrialofbasi-virk.blogspot.com/</a><br />
"If ya want to be in a position to steal and not get caught be a lawyer or an accountant.
If ya want to be in a position to beat people up or murder and not get caught be a policeman.
It is hard to know the truth in this situation.
As the lawyers say about the doctors, doctors bury their mistakes.
This RCMP officer may be telling the truth and he may not.
But, his evidence should be tested at a trail by a jury.
He would have to take the stand because otherwise the evidence would convict him and he would then be subject to cross-examination one of the most effective tools a lawyer has for getting at the truth.
doctros But, "
---
We have met the enemy and he is us
Pogo
A mind is a fire to be kindled, not a vessel to be filled.
Plutarch
Ian Bush was shot in the back of the head. The video camera was turned off and there were no witnesses. The police officer that did it has been transferred to another BC community and still has a gun.
Politicians in the community have admitted that they are afraid of the local police and the family of the murdered man have been told nothing and no one has seen the report that lets this cop off for shooting a man in the back of the head.
---
Like a great red wine at the end of a good meal or a Van Morrison song played at just the right time, proof there is a god and every once in a while she smiles.
I strongly believe that all shooting in self-defence should be directed at the feet or lower limbs. Do RCMP guidelines say anything about that?
Yes, I can see it.
I'm behind you, my right side to your back with my right arm locked around your neck and my left arm re-inforcing it. Your right side is to my back. You reach with your right hand, pull your gun and point it behind your head, into the back of mine near my spine.
The questions remains, why would someone on a misdemeanor risk attacking a cop; why would the cop break protocol and let the prisoner get behind him, and how would the guy get behind the cop and 'get the drop' on him.
---
"I think it's important to always carry enough technology to restart civilization, should it be necessary." Mark Tilden
Being ex-military and trained with firearms, I can tell you that we are always taught to shoot at the center of body mass - and this goes triple for pistols which are highly inaccurate.
This is not due to some bloodthirty machismo - an arm or leg is actually quite difficult to hit at any distance and almost impossible to hit if the person is moving. Aiming at the center of body mass is the only real chance to hit and disable or kill before the opponent can disable or kill you.
In this case, I cannot see the justification for shooting though. Unless the dead man is a black belt in martial arts then the cop's hand-to-hand training should have been able to break the choke. Also, if the man were a black belt, he wouldn't be likely to let someone put a bullet into him - anti-weapon training is standard in just about all the martial arts.
Like the above post says - this should be decided by a Jury who are presented with all the facts. We have nothing but heresay and unsworn testimony to go on.
<br />
<a href="http://mostlywater.org/node/5303">http://mostlywater.org/node/5303</a><br />
<br />
The boy got arrested for drinking a can of beer and making a joke??? For that, he got a bullet in the back of the head. It should be a crime for the police to arrest people who are minding their own business in the first place, as this boy appearently was doing.<br />
<br />
My guess, is the boy was shot dead in anger because there's been more than a few RCMP killings going around there days. The message is: Don't fuck with the RCMP or we'll kill you. It seems not bowing to your master is cause for getting your ass kicked around, and even killed.<br />
<br />
In this case, even if the boy was trying to choke the man to death (which seems very much like a quickly and poorly thought out excuse), then are we to believe that Koester was alone at the time? Are we to believe that the video cameras were all turned off as well? Are we to believe that a shot in the back of the head was a defensive shooting?<br />
<br />
I'd have to swallow a lot of amazingness to believe what the RCMP are saying.<br />
<br />
You know, I'd have a whole lot more respect for the RCMP if they actually worked for the people (and I mean it). Instead, they seem more than willing to pick and choose who they arrest, and it's never the real crooks who so happen to hand them their pay cheques.<br />
<br />
I know that there must be some really good RCMP out there, and I really do appreciate their efforts, but the RCMP as a whole is sinking down the toilet in my opinion. It seems most things having to do with government are losing the respect of the people, and it's for a damned good reason.<br />
<br />
I doubt we'll see much justice with this case. <br />
“Mr. Oppal has never seen the file on the Ian Bush case. He was briefed by Crown counsel on it. The facts available to the Crown came from the RCMP investigation into the shooting by its own officer. Mr. Oppal cannot be certain, without looking at the file, whether that investigation of the death was thorough.”<br />
<br />
That the RCMP is dirty is no surprise.<br />
That members of the judiciary are dirty is no surprise either.<br />
I am not even surprised that reaction to these truths, except to the victim’s family, is tepid at best. <br />
I have heard all my life the apologists moan of a ‘few bad apples’ without finishing the expression: spoil the barrel.<br />
We, you, I are the barrel that becomes spoiled by the actions of ‘a few bad apples’ and the ‘bad apples’ compound their acts with laws like ‘obstructing justice’ so the weight of the law is brought to bear upon ‘dissenters’ <br />
<br />
<br />
But hey, It ain’t no big thing and will be replaced by the next bit of ‘news’ <br />
<br />
My support goes to the family<br />
Dio<br />
<br />
<br />
ps <br />
<a href="http://www.enorthernbc.com/Tell-Wally-Oppal.asp">http://www.enorthernbc.com/Tell-Wally-Oppal.asp</a> <br />
<br />
BC Mary cleverly worked in the Basi/Virk incident and here is, perhaps, more fuel for that fire as there is a Sikh connection.<br />
<a href="http://home.istar.ca/~cye/sikhs%20in%20Canada.html">http://home.istar.ca/~cye/sikhs%20in%20Canada.html</a> <br />
<br />
Sikhs in Canada<br />
REMEMBERING SIGNIFICANT HIGHLIGHTS SINCE THE FIRST ARRIVALS<br />
1982 <br />
Honorable Wally Oppal was appointed a Supreme Court judge. He later conducted the Royal Inquiry to Policing in British Columbia.<br />
<p>---<br>We have met the enemy and he is us<br />
Pogo<br />
A mind is a fire to be kindled, not a vessel to be filled.<br />
Plutarch