Crown drops charges against social activists

BY KEITH LACEY

Criminal charges against two university students, who claim Greater Sudbury Police officers roughed them up without cause, have been dropped.

Charges of mischief, trespassing, resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer were laid against Ander Reszczynski and Shawn Pelletier following an incident at Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto off Van Horne St. last summer.

Assistant Crown attorney Philip Zylberberg announced Wednesday all charges against Reszczynski have been dropped and all charges against Pelletier will be dropped next week.

After making numerous court appearances over the past few months, Reszczynski said she was relieved the charges have been dropped.

She will “weigh all her options” after talking to her lawyer and is considering legal action against the officers involved or filing an official complaint with the Greater Sudbury Police’s top brass.

She hasn’t  formally filed a complaint on the advice of her lawyer who recommended she go through the court process before taking further steps.

About a dozen members of the Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty have been at every court appearance since charges were laid.

Coalition spokesperson Gary Kinsman said the dropping of the charges is a vindication for Reszczynski and Pelletier.

Kinsman said the charges laid against these two were “trumped up from day one” to cover up a severe over-reaction from officers involved that night.

Zylberberg told the court police arrived at the Grotto around 3 am on June 27. They found Pelletier, 24, and Reszczynski, 21, there and asked them to leave.

Police found spray paint in Reszczynski’s packsack. Police had been called to the Grotto days earlier because of vandalism caused by spray paint, said Zylberberg.

When police analyzed the spray paint, they found it was not the kind used to perform vandalism, he said.

Outside the courthouse, Reszczynski said she had spray paint because she’s an artist.

Police had no right to jump to any conclusion because she wasn’t carrying anything illegal on her person that night, she said.

Zylberberg said the Crown’s office decided to drop the charges based largely on the fact neither accused had any previous criminal record and had spent some time in custody following their arrest.

Zylberberg said the Crown still believes Pelletier and Reszczynski “behaved badly” in resisting arrest.

Reszczynski’s lawyer Donald Kuyek told the court if this matter had proceeded to trial there would have been much argument “over who behaved badly that night.”

Outside the courthouse, Reszczynski said police roughed her up by dragging her face into some slag and smashed Pelletier’s face into the front bumper of a police cruiser.

Reszczynski said she believes police brutality against “marginalized people”, including street people, prostitutes and people of colour is rampant in Greater Sudbury.

“The police violence that Shawn and I experienced is not an isolated incident, but it is a routine way the police treat marginalized people,” she said. “I knew this was a reality before, but it became disturbingly clear to me as many people have approached me and told me they have also endured police brutality, but they are fearful of coming forward.

“Police brutality is wrong and it’s about time people said enough is enough.”

Police Chief Ian Davidson ordered an internal investigation of this matter last July after allegations of police brutality surfaced.

An investigation was conducted and reviewed by an independent third party. It was determined the officers acted properly and did not engage in any misconduct in their handling of the incident.