Pivot Legal

What's this, a blog post?  

Yes, we've been a little low on the content updates here on the ol' Pivot Legal LLP website, it's true. But I wanted to share this latest victory for one of Pivot's clients, Donald Sipes, a North Shore resident who recently won a civil suit against the West Vancouver Police Department after he was illegally arrested and detained as he walked down the street in January 2006. The 2006 incident followed a long history of police harassment suffered by Mr. Sipes, who has been stopped more than 30 times by West Vancouver police without justification.

I represented Mr. Sipes in court, arguing that his arrest and detention was arbitrary and without lawful justification. Mr. Sipes was arrested and detained by Constable Palmer of the WVPD, who claimed he was investigating an attempted fraud at a nearby mall. He stopped Mr. Sipes after being radioed by another officer, Constable Johal, that Sipes might be a “good check” for the suspect, who was described as having short, spiky hair. However, even after seeing Mr. Sipes’ long, curly hair and ruling him out as a suspect, Constable Palmer continued to detain Mr. Sipes, grabbing him when he attempted to leave and placing him in handcuffs.

Judge Baird Ellan of the North Vancouver Provincial Court found that the arrest and detention of Mr. Sipes was unlawful and fell far below the required standard, ruling that the officer had no reason to arrest Mr. Sipes and did so “without any grounds at all”. The judge also questioned whether the officer had “improper motives” for detaining Mr. Sipes, as Sipes and Constable Johal had had a number of previous negative interactions. Judge Baird Ellan questioned whether the investigation initially given as the reason for detaining Mr. Sipes was simply used as a “convenient justification” for the arrest.

I’ve been through hell because of this” says Sipes. “This is my hometown, and every time I visit I’m afraid I’m going to be the target of further harassment and intimidation. This is no way for the police to treat people. I just hope this case helps prevent this from happening to others.”

Yesterday, Mr. Sipes and the WVPD reached a settlement on the issue of monetary damages. Mr. Sipes received a significant amount of compensation for what he has been through.

Due to Pivot's long-standing concerns about the conflict of interest that arises when police investigate other police for wrongdoing, we’ve been advocating that people use the courts, rather than the police complaints process, to hold police accountable for their actions. This decision shows that the strategy can be an effective one.

 You can read some of the media coverage of Mr. Sipes' victory here and here.