Pubdate: Tue, 05 May 2009
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2009 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: David Karp, Vancouver Sun

THREE MEN WANT INVESTIGATION, COMPENSATION FOR RCMP BUST-IN

Police Apologize But Won't Disclose Contents Of Internal Review

Emad Hovaizavi was in his Surrey apartment cooking spaghetti and drinking 
tea with two friends when police broke down his door, and ordered the 
residents of apartment 206 to come out.

Hovaizavi told them the apartment was number 205, and he and his friends 
lay face down on the floor with their hands on their heads.

What followed then is the subject of a joint complaint from the three men 
to the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP.

"It went very quiet and then the dog came running in," wrote Mohammed 
Bosir, one of the three in the apartment. "He was gigantic with a head like 
a lion. I watched in horror as he clamped onto [Hovaizavi]'s leg and pulled 
him out of the apartment. [Hovaizavi] was screaming very loud which made me 
even more frightened."

Bosir claims the dog then returned for him, biting a chunk of flesh off his 
right leg while dragging him out of the apartment.

Then, according to the complaint, Hovaizavi was beaten, kicked in the ribs 
and stomped on by officers before being bitten by the dog a second time.

Seyedmorteza Ghadiriasli, the third man, then crawled into the hallway on 
his own, where he claims an officer pointed a gun at his neck while another 
officer beat him.

All three men claim they are still suffering anxiety, nightmares and 
sleeplessness as a result of the incident, which occurred Nov. 7 at 
Hovaizavi's apartment on 105A Avenue near King George Highway.

The men have received verbal apologies from the RCMP, and the RCMP's 
victims services team has been in touch with Hovaizavi. But they want a 
full investigation, compensation for damages, discipline for the officers 
involved and steps to ensure similar incidents don't happen again.

"I don't know if there's a policy of letting the dog loose in situations 
like this where you don't know who is inside," said Craig Constantino, the 
lawyer representing the three men.

"Either they could see that there were three unarmed men with their hands 
on their head lying face down on the floor and they sent in the dog anyway, 
or they really had no idea and they're sending in this attack dog. It's 
incredibly reckless."

The RCMP has admitted they did not have a search warrant for Hovaizavi's 
apartment, but said search warrants executed at the same time on 
neighbouring apartments turned up crack cocaine, heroin, a Taser, a 
handgun, a machete and a battle axe.

The RCMP has completed an internal review by a senior officer who is not 
connected to the Surrey RCMP. RCMP spokesman Peter Thiessen said the 
department is reviewing the document internally and is not prepared to 
release its findings. Thiessen said he wasn't sure if any officers had been 
disciplined. "At this point, that is an internal matter that still hasn't 
been addressed," he said.
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