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Push by Vancouver police officer merits six days

Case of woman shoved by cop took four years to resolve
push
Security video footage from the Lux Hotel captured Const. Taylor Robinson pushing Sandra Davidsen to the ground.

In an act he called “callous and reckless,” an adjudicator presiding over a public hearing has ruled that a Vancouver police constable who shoved a woman with cerebral palsy to the ground in the Downtown Eastside should be suspended without pay for six days.

The constable, Taylor Robinson, pushed Sandy Davidsen to the sidewalk June 9, 2010 after he claimed the woman, who also has muscular sclerosis, was going for his gun.

“The act of pushing Ms. Davidsen to the ground was callous and reckless,” said retired judge Wally Oppal in his written reasons, which were released Nov. 28 after he delivered his decision at the conclusion of a hearing at the Robson Street courthouse. “She was clearly vulnerable. The officer took no steps to assist Ms. Davidsen. This is a clear violation of public trust.”

Oppal said it was also “somewhat disturbing” that two other officers walking with Robinson that afternoon never bothered to assist Davidsen after she was left on the ground outside the Lux social housing building at 65 East Hastings St.

Pivot Legal Society lawyer Douglas King, acting on behalf of Davidsen, requested a suspension of 15 days while the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner suggested 10 days.

Robinson’s lawyer, David Crossin, argued for a two-day suspension in line with what a VPD superintendent concluded in a separate investigation.

“The decision sends a message that the VPD’s discipline wasn’t adequate but it doesn’t send a clear message that we were hoping for,” said King, noting Robinson had also incorrectly tagged an exhibit in an unrelated case before the incident with Davidsen. “We thought it deserved a harsher penalty because of that.”

He said Davidsen was disappointed in the ruling and always wanted her case to go to criminal court. Robinson was charged with assault but the charges were stayed after he agreed to an alternative measures program that involved a three-day conflict resolution course at the Justice Institute.

Sgt. Randy Fincham, a VPD media liaison officer, said in an email to the Courier that Robinson “has taken responsibility for his actions and has apologized. We respect the decision of the Police Complaint Commission adjudicator.”

Robinson had graduated from the Justice Institute six months before the incident. He was transferred out of the Downtown Eastside and works as a patrol officer in another part of the city.

The incident was captured on video by the Lux’s security cameras. The footage, which was played in court, showed Robinson walking three-abreast with two other officers along a busy sidewalk on East Hastings.

As the trio approached Davidsen, who is seen walking with an unsteady gait, she appeared to step to one side in an attempt to avoid colliding with Robinson. In doing so, she attempted to walk through a gap between Robinson and a fellow officer. That’s when Davidsen pushed her to the ground and then stood over her.

In a statement to police investigators five days after the incident, Robinson said he told Davidsen “don’t touch my gun” followed by “never touch a police officer’s gun.”

Davidsen, who didn’t attend the hearing, denied going for Robinson’s gun. She didn’t believe Robinson’s apology to be genuine. Davidsen said through her lawyer the apology was more of a justification for shoving her.

The case took more than four years before Oppal imposed the six-day suspension for Robinson. Oppal agreed with the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner that the delay was unnecessary and unacceptable.

In a report released in November 2013, Police Complaint Commissioner Stan Lowe slammed the VPD for the way it handled its internal discipline proceedings in the Robinson case, saying the “accountability of the proceedings and the search for the truth were significantly compromised.”

In October 2012, the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal decided to grant Davidsen a hearing into the incident. But since that decision, the City of Vancouver agreed to an out-of-court financial settlement that nullified that hearing and a lawsuit brought on by Pivot. Details were not disclosed.

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