Four cops to be cited for use of excessive force during fatal intervention
Quebec's police ethics committee has ordered four Montreal police officers to be cited with using excessive force during a fatal intervention three years ago, a decision the victim's family hopes will shed more light on what happened.
In March 2017, Koray Kevin Celik, 28, was intoxicated and in a state of crisis at his family's home in Île-bizard. When his parents feared he could hurt himself, they called 911 for help.
Celik suffered a fatal heart attack while police tried to subdue him, but his parents, who witnessed the intervention, always have maintained police initiated the violence upon arrival.
An initial complaint to the police ethics commissioner was rejected in June. After being asked to review that decision, the ethics committee has now reversed it and ordered each of the four officers involved to be cited for using excessive force.
“Nearly two minutes elapsed between the time Mr. Celik was brought to the ground and the moment (the officers) noticed his face was blue,” administrative judge Richard W. Iuticone wrote in his decision this month. “The force used by police officers to subdue and control him … must be examined by the committee.”
The police intervention was investigated by Quebec's police watchdog, the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes (BEI). In 2018, the BEI handed its findings over to Quebec's office of criminal prosecutions (DPCP), which then decided not to lay criminal charges.
An autopsy report revealed Celik died of cardiorespiratory arrest brought on by intoxication, the DPCP said in a memo explaining its decision. It judged the intervention was legal because the officers were acting on their duty to ensure people's safety.
Though they still believe criminal charges should have been laid in the case, the Celiks see the ethics committee decision as a welcome reversal and feel it is one of the first times their version of events has been taken into consideration.
“It is not a victory, because how can you have a victory when you lose your son?” said Celik's father, Cesur. “But it is the first time we've had something positive happen as we seek justice.”
Alexandre Popovic, of la Coalition contre la repression et les abus policiers, is behind the initial complaint and challenge to the commissioner's decision.
For him, as much as the recent decision is a step in the right direction, it also raises questions: why did the BEI and DPCP see nothing wrong in the officers' actions that night when the ethics committee now thinks they need to be explored?
“For me, there's a clear contradiction between the institutions,” Popovic said in an interview. “But at least, finally, the four officers who intervened will have to respond to their conduct before the police ethics committee.”
The Celiks say police acted aggressively toward their son instead of de-escalating the tension that night, starting with an officer shining a light in his face when she entered his room.
After handcuffing him on the ground, they say, officers delivered several knees and strikes to his sides while one kept his hands over Celik's mouth.
The BEI, in contrast, has said officers noticed Celik was unconscious as soon as they brought him to the ground.
In his decision, Iuticone ruled the amount of force the officers used needs to be re-examined, especially the way one described controlling Celik's head while taking him down.
“With respect, the committee is of the view that the commissioner made a determinative error in deciding that the force used by the police officers was justified and reasonable,” Iuticone wrote.
In September, the Quebec coroner's office announced it will hold a public inquest into Celik's death.