Court update from Coquitlam

June 1, 2007

Brothers and Sisters,

I'm sure that you have all had a chance to see the shocking video of CP Police arresting six peaceful picketers. The start of the video you can hear the CP officer stating to the strike captain that the picketers must move or be arrested. As he is saying this, you see the CP Police begin arresting our members without giving them a chance to disperse.

Then you see an officer viciously assault an unresisting member from behind and after driving him to his knees, he yells, " You're under arrest for assaulting a police officer." You can clearly see through the whole video that there was no assault at all and yet the officer makes this obvious, threatening lie, loud enough for it to be recorded on the film. Less than two hours later (perhaps once this CP Cop had calmed down and realized that the incident had been recorded) , the arrest charges against Charnjit were for 'resisting arrest' and 'mischief', untrue all the same, yet a lot less than "assaulting a police officer".

The other five members were arrested simply for 'mischief'.

All were served with notices to appear which included the conditions that they stay 300 metres away from CPR property and stay within the province of BC.

Charnjit (the assaulted member) injured all the ligaments in his right leg and knee in a car accident the previous year and tried to tell the officer this while he was being yelled at prior to being assaulted. The officer's vicious and unprovoked attack has caused Charnjit to require medical attention once again for his disability.

I am happy to report that the next day, attorney Chris Foy (of McGrady and Company) got the notice to appear and all the conditions quashed. The attending Judge commented that the matter was "oppressive". No charges have been laid or are pending at this time.

Today we appeared before the CIRB and Vice Chair Lanyon seeking an interim injunction to prevent CPRail through their private police force from intimidating our members participating in a legal strike. After a day of listening to all the evidence presented, Vice Chair Lanyon determined that this was not the Board's jurisdiction, as it involved possible unlawful, criminal and/or tortious conduct and felt that we would be better served by the courts. We do have our first court appearance scheduled before the Supreme Court of BC on Thursday, June 7, 2007.

Stay safe, stay strong, stay united

Bill Brehl
President