Police defend actions in case of mistaken identity
Police testify in Supreme Court case stemming from mistaken identity
Two police officers are defending their actions in the case of a man who claims he was brutally assaulted and wrongfully arrested in downtown Vancouver.
Const. Jennifer White and Const. Jeremiah Birnbaum approached Solomon Akintoye, 33, because White believed, wrongly as it turned out, that Akintoye was a man she earlier investigated for fraud and for whom there was a warrant for his arrest.
The April 2011 confrontation on Richards Street escalated to the point where the officers brought Akintoye to the ground and called for other officers to help them.
Akintoye, who said he was walking to a job when he was stopped, told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Margot Fleming that he was repeatedly kicked and punched and had his head smashed into the ground during the confrontation.
He said he was thrown into a police wagon, taken to jail, stripsearched and then held overnight before being released.
But White and Birnbaum told the judge on Thursday that they did not use excessive force and claimed Akintoye was argumentative, confrontational and yelling at them.
White said Akintoye was angry when she requested that he provide ID, but that he did produce an Ontario health card.
After she went back to her vehicle to check the ID on the police computer, Akintoye started yelling at her that he shouldn’t have been stopped and that police couldn’t take his ID, she told the judge. Akintoye started walking toward the police vehicle and was told by Birnbaum to get away from the door, White said.
When Akintoye refused Birnbaum’s commands to remove his left hand from his pocket, saying that to do so would make his pants fall down, Birnbaum grabbed him and pinned him against the vehicle, she said.
Akintoye resisted an attempt to put handcuffs on him and White responded by giving him two knee strikes, she said.
Unable to “outmuscle” Akintoye, who was by then kicking out with his right leg in a “mule kick,” White attempted to take him to the ground but ended up falling backwards, she said.
“I lost my balance and I took him down on top of me,” she added.
Asked by City of Vancouver lawyer Bronson Toy what she was concerned about at that point, White said: “He’s fighting me, on top of me. I don’t know why. It’s just a full-on panic.”
After other officers arrived at the scene and pulled Akintoye off White, she said she returned to her vehicle and finished running the ID through the police computer.
She said she was shocked to discover at that point that Akintoye was not the man she was looking for.
Birnbaum testified that Akintoye, who is seeking damages from the city, was argumentative right from the beginning and gradually became more confrontational.
Under questioning from Toy, Birnbaum said he did not punch or kick Akintoye and did not see any other officers do so either.
Akintoye’s lawyers are arguing that the whole incident could have been avoided had the officers done a simple pat-down search of Akintoye, but Birnbaum said they never had sufficient control of him to conduct such a search.
The trial continues today.
He’s fighting me, on top of me. I don’t know why. It’s just a full-on panic.
CONST. JENNIFER WHITE