Note:  RCMP Corporal Monty Robinson is due in Surrey Provincial Court on a charge of obstructing justice April 18 2011.

October 14 2007, Cpl. Monty Robinson led a squad of four RCMP officers when they attacked and tasered an unarmed airport traveler who had caused a minor disturbance. After less than a minute of contact, Robert Dziekanski was dying on the ground. RCMP officers gave him no first-aid, even refused to remove shackles so that emergency first-responders, when they did arrive, could move the unconscious victim into a recovery position for resuscitation efforts.

The victim’s urgent need was not Monty Robinson’s first concern.

The Globe and Mail reported that one year later, off duty Cpl. Robinson…

was involved in a collision just after 10 p.m. Saturday night between his Jeep and a motorcycle driven by Orion Hutchinson, 21, on a quiet two-lane street. Witnesses say the officer left the scene of the crash, and later blew over the legal limit for alcohol.

After the crash, [a] woman saw the officer hand his driver’s licence to another witness before leaving the scene on foot with his two children who were in the car. He didn’t appear to attend to or check on the injured Mr. Hutchinson, she said.

He got out of his Jeep, handed his licence to somebody and ran down the road with a kid in each hand,” the witness said. “Maybe he could have saved that kid’s life? He’s a policeman, he must have had first-aid training.

Untrained witnesses then attempted to perform CPR on Mr. Hutchinson until emergency crews arrived, guided by a 911 call-taker over a cellphone, the witness said. Mr. Hutchinson died at the scene.

The victim’s urgent need was not Monty Robinson’s first concern.

Delta Police soon made contact with Robinson and administered a breathalyzer test. He failed. Eight months later, Delta police recommended charges of impaired and dangerous driving causing death against the RCMP officer.

More than a year after Orion Hutchinson’s death, the Criminal Justice Branch of the Ministry of Attorney General, declined to proceed on recommended charges but did allow one against Robinson of attempting to obstruct justice, based on his alleged actions after the fatal collision.

April 18, 2011 a Preliminary Hearing is set to begin in Surrey Provincial Court. Robinson is expected to attend court for the first time. In the course of six remand hearings leading to his not-guilty plea, the RCMP officer has been represented by a lawyer without appearing himself.

After the October 2009 collision, BC’s Superintendent of Motor Vehicles made an administrative suspension of Robinson’s driver’s licence, based on reports reviewed in Supreme Court, which included:

• …the [Delta police] officer noted her personal observations that the petitioner had a strong odour of liquor on his breath and on his person, that his face was pale, that his eyes were bloodshot and his pupils were dilated, and that his speech was slurred…”

• Driver advised police he had 2 shots of vodka after the collision occurred during a ten minute time period between leaving the scene, walking home, and returning to the scene.

• Police opinion that symptoms far more set than 2 shots in that time period should indicate.

• The officer placed the time of driving at 10:17 p.m. The petitioner gave samples of his breath at 11:56 p.m. and 12:16 a.m. His readings were 120 and 100 mgs. of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

The Motor Vehicles Branch adjudicator told Robinson:

Based on the evidence before me I am satisfied on a balance of probabilities that your BAC was due to alcohol you consumed before or while operating or having care or control of the motor vehicle.

I am satisfied that before or while operating or having care or control of a motor vehicle, you consumed alcohol that caused you to have a BAC of over 80 mg% within 3 hours after you operated or had care or control of a motor vehicle on October 25, 2008.

I therefore confirm your driving prohibition, as required by s. 94.6 of the Motor Vehicle Act. You are prohibited from driving for 90 days, commencing December 11, 2008. You may resume driving once you have obtained a driver’s licence from the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia.

Robinson petitioned the BC Supreme Court to overturn the suspension. Mr. Justice Mark McEwan concluded:

Placed in the context of all the other evidence, including the inherent inconsistency in the petitioner’s statement at the scene, the adjudicator’s credibility determination was within her jurisdiction and well within the standard of reasonableness. There is accordingly no basis on which this court may intervene. The petition is dismissed.

Citizens can only wonder why anonymous bureaucrats in the Criminal Justice Branch judged Robinson not guilty of impaired driving causing death instead of allowing charges recommended by police to be heard in open court. Taken with knowledge of the CJB’s pattern of procedure in all cases involving police as potential defendants, the Attorney General’s treatment of police Cpl. Robinson, is simply business as usual. Of hundreds of citizen deaths following police interaction, the number of serious charges against law enforcement officers stands at zero.

Police Involved Deaths by NRF_Vancouver on Scribd

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