Susan Clairmont: They watched as he slowly died. Will these Hamilton police officers’ cruel and despicable behaviour have consequences?
Three Hamilton police officers could face disciplinary charges related to their despicable behaviour the night Yosif Al-Hasnawi was killed.
They accused the teen of acting as he died. They tried to force him to stand as he struggled to breathe. They didn't bother securing the homicide scene. They waved off medical assistance from firefighters. They helped place him in restraints. They easily accepted a bystander's guess that he had been shot with a pellet gun, when in fact he was shot by a bullet that severed major blood vessels causing him to bleed out internally.
Those officers - Const. Michael Zezella, Const. Chris Campovari and Sgt. Nesreen Shawihat - were not charged criminally for their behaviour that night, but Justice Harrison Arrell tore into them this week when he handed down a guilty verdict to two paramedics who failed to properly care for Yosif.
Arrell said the police didn't take the situation seriously. They didn't treat it with urgency.
I would go further. I would say they were cruel. Cruel to Yosif and cruel to his frantic family as they desperately tried to get help for the 19-year-old aspiring doctor who was shot while intervening in the harassment of a stranger.
A complaint about the police has been made to the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, which oversees public complaints about police.
All of the details about that complaint are a secret. The OIPRD will not confirm there even is a complaint.
The only reason I know about the complaint is because Hamilton police Chief Frank Bergen cited it as his reason for not talking about the conduct of his officers the night Yosif was killed.
A secret complaint used as a reason for more secrecy.
In an interview, Bergen said he thinks the complainant is a member of Yosif's family. Then he said he can't talk about that and confirmation would have to come from the OIPRD.
The OIPRD says that information is confidential.
While Yosif's mother has told The Spectator she is not the complainant, it is unclear if another relative is.
Bergen said the complaint was made in March 2018, but was put on hold" until the end of the paramedics' trial. Now, the OIPRD case is active again.
We need to let that process unfold," he says.
Why the OIPRD couldn't proceed with the complaint against police while the paramedics faced charges is unclear.
Yosif was surrounded by first responders on a downtown sidewalk on the night of Dec. 2, 2017 when he was killed. He had been at his mosque with his father and brothers when he stepped outside, tried to be a Good Samaritan and was shot for his efforts.
Former Hamilton paramedics Christopher Marchant, 33, and Steven Snively, 55, were convicted of failing to provide the necessaries of life. They treated Yosif as if he had a mental illness, rather than a fatal gunshot wound.
(Dale King, who fired that bullet, was acquitted of second-degree murder. His verdict is under appeal by the Crown.)
Eight months after Yosif's death, the province's Special Investigations Unit launched a probe into the conduct of one police officer at the scene. It said it opened the investigation because of media reports about the circumstances surrounding Yosif's death. At the time, then-chief Eric Girt said he did not think the incident needed to be investigated by the SIU.
The SIU investigates when someone has been killed or seriously injured in an incident involving police and allegations of sexual assault involving police.
The SIU concluded there were conflicting" witness allegations of behaviour by police and no evidence to suggest the unnamed police officer being investigated directly contributed to (Yosif's) death" or failed to carry out his legal duties.
But the SIU director also wrote in his decision that he believed some first responders accused the dying teen of faking or exaggerating his injury.
While this behaviour, if it occurred, is far from commendable and not consistent with the sworn duties of acting police officers, neither is it criminal in nature," Tony Loparco wrote.
Zezella is named in a lawsuit filed by Yosif's mother, who blames him and others for contributing to her son's death, although none of her allegations have been proven in court.
The OIPRD will not say how many police officers are named in the complaint or who they are.
An OIPRD complaint can be resolved in a few different ways.
The complainant can withdraw the complaint. If that happens, the public will never be told anything about the complaint by the OIPRD.
The complaint can go to mediation, if the complainant agrees. In that case, the police have 30 days to meet with the complainant. If the matter is solved between them, the public will never be told anything about the complaint by the OIPRD.
Or if the OIPRD finds the complaint has merit, it can investigate it itself, lay Police Services Act charges and order a hearing. Or it can send it back to the Hamilton Police Service to investigate and possibly lay charges.
If Police Services Act charges are laid, the officers may be suspended with pay.
If a hearing is held - officers sometimes quit their job rather than face a hearing - at that point, and only at that point, will the details of the complaint become public.
If there is a hearing and it results in findings of guilt, it is possible the officers will lose their jobs.
By that point, years will have passed since the time the complaint was filed. The officers will have continued working through some or possibly all of that time. They will have continued to be paid their full salary.
But maybe then Hamilton's police chief will talk about what his officers did the night Yosif died.
Susan Clairmont is a Hamilton-based crime, court and social justice columnist at The Spectator. Reach her via email: sclairmont@thespec.com