Controversy
On July 14, 2003, the PMPD came under the spotlight when an off-duty officer shot dead Keyvan Tabesh, an 18-years old Iranian teen wielding a machete and running toward the police officer. It was determined post-mortem the teen was in mild physical intoxication from alcohol. The officer who shot the teen was not named in the ensuing Coroner's inquest out of concern for the officer's safety due to death threats and the a 5-person jury panel found the act to be a homicide (but it has no power to determine criminal charges) and issued two recommendations for the police force . The Mayor and Chair of Police Board determined a complaint against the said officer using excessive and lethal force when other options were available were not substantiated and this decision was further upheld by the Police Complaint Commissioner of British Columbia.
It led to further strain of relationship between Canada and Iran because of another incident just days earlier where a Canadian photojournalist who died in Iranian custody was responded by the Ambassador to Iran being recalled and a strong demand for investigation over this incident. The Iranian Foreign Ministry responded by accusing the Canadian Government of being "racist" for targeting its citizen in Canada.
Read more about this topic: Port Moody Police Department
Famous quotes containing the word controversy:
“Ours was a highly activist administration, with a lot of controversy involved ... but I’m not sure that it would be inconsistent with my own political nature to do it differently if I had it to do all over again.”
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