Teenager accuses police of beating

By Dan Hilborn, Burnaby Now assistant editor
Published Nov. 26, 2003


A Burnaby father is seeking legal advice after his 16-year-old son was allegedly beaten by Burnaby RCMP members last Saturday night.

Mario Armanno said his son Anthony suffered a cut inside his right eye, a large open wound on his right cheek and boot prints on the back of his neck after an incident took place at about 2:40 Saturday morning at West Sells Park near Francis and McDonald streets in North Burnaby.

The incident apparently happened as Anthony and an 18-year-old friend were driving in his Honda Acura and stopped to urinate in the park. When a black Toyota Pathfinder drove slowly past the two young men, the 16-year-old yelled an obscenity, asking the driver of the unmarked vehicle what he was staring at.

That's when two uniformed Burnaby RCMP officers exited the vehicle with their guns drawn and ordered the two young men onto the ground. The teens apparently complied, and were handcuffed but when several other police vehicles arrived on the scene, things turned nasty.

According to witnesses who live across from the park, several marked and unmarked police cars began to arrive. That's when one plainclothes officer stepped out of his vehicle, casually walked over to the two prone suspects, and began kicking.

"I can't tell you every word of what was said, but I can tell you what I saw," said Lisa, who was woken by the noise of the initial arrest, and watched the incident with her husband. "One of the plainclothes officers approached the two youths on the ground and kicked them - well, he kicked one of them at least. I couldn't tell which one, but he was very obviously kicking them.

"He kicked them hard, and I watched him kick him twice. Yeah, it was pretty shocking, to say the least. We did not see any physical resistance whatsoever. They were already handcuffed and lying face down on the street, oh, for probably a good five minutes before this plainclothes officer, for some reason, suddenly went up to them and kicked them."

Lisa said her visibility of the incident was aided by the fact that the first police vehicle on the scene was shining its headlights directly onto the two prone suspects.

She did admit that she is unable to positively identify the single police officer who did the kicking because of the distance between her home and the scene. However, she believes the officer in question was carrying a bulletproof vest.

Lisa also confirms that there was a lot of yelling back and forth between the suspects and the police.

"Yes, there was a lot of yelling," she said "I mean, it may not have been without provocation that they were arrested. But the point is they were clearly on the ground and handcuffed when the plainclothes officer approached them."

And even the father admits there are several other pertinent facts in the case. The older boy, who had his hood pulled over his face while the alleged beating took place, was in possession of a pellet gun and was charged with possession of an imitation weapon.

Police also confiscated "a joint" - a marijuana cigarette - from his son.

However, after being detained by police for about two hours, Anthony was not charged with any crime and released into the custody of his older friend.

Armanno first learned that something was up when he received a phone call from a police officer's cell phone at about 6:30 a.m., informing him that his teenaged son was being released from police lockup. Armanno did not even realize his son was injured until several hours later, after his son had gone to hospital for a checkup and then his mother's house in another part of Burnaby.

Armanno also later learned that his son was given a driving prohibition several hours prior to the incident, however, he also claims that that ticket was altered by police while his son was in custody.

Armanno said he is now talking to a lawyer to determine his next step.

"My son did nothing wrong except piss in the park," he said. "They have no right to do this. A person laying on the ground is no threat to anything. Here they stomp on his head and charge him with nothing.

"Maybe if they found break and enter tools or something in his car, I might understand, but something is wrong here."

And the Burnaby RCMP are currently investigating the incident to determine exactly what happened.

"We are investigating an incident with one adult and one young offender and there is a replica handgun involved. Criminal charges are pending," said Const. Andrea Hill, acting spokesperson for the Burnaby RCMP detachment. "Unfortunately, I am unable to confirm if we have received a complaint about the conduct of officers

"If there are concerns about this mater, we are more than interested in addressing them and urge the party involved to contact the RCMP and and and all concerns will be addressed.

When asked if she would respond to the allegations, Hill said: "At this point it would be inappropriate for me to comment."

Hill was also unable to confirm exactly what charges are being contemplated against which suspects.