"askatoon fires police officers in Stonechild case
Last Updated Fri, 12 Nov 2004 19:45:33 EST
SASKATOON - Saskatoon's police force has fired two constables that an inquiry linked to Neil Stonechild, an aboriginal teen who froze to death in a field on the city's outskirts in 1990.
Saskatoon police Chief Russell Sabo says the two constables can appeal their dismissals within 30 days. (File photo)
Saskatoon police Chief Russ Sabo dismissed constables Bradley Senger and Larry Hartwig on Friday. They were suspended two weeks after an inquiry concluded they had Stonechild in their custody on the night he died.
Sabo said he didn't believe the officers left the 17-year-old in the isolated spot where his body was found, but found them "unsuitable for police service by reason of their conduct."
"Constables Hartwig and Senger are being dismissed for failing to diligently and promptly report or disclose or offer material evidence to appropriate authorities that in November 1990 Neil Stonechild was in their custody as was their duty to do so," Sabo told a news conference.
Fired officers plan to appeal
Lawyers for the two men said they plan to appeal the decision.
"We don't think there was any kind of grounds for the dismissal," said Chris Boychuck, who represents Senger. "At least now the two officers will get some due process.
"... They'll be entitled to all the ordinary safeguards that people get in a regular judicial process, unlike the way the inquiry was conducted."
The police union threatened a mutiny in support of the two men when they were initially suspended and supporters rallied outside the police station before the chief's announcement on Friday.
Aboriginal community praises firings
Many in the city's large aboriginal community applauded the dismissal.
Neil Stonechild was found frozen in a field outside Saskatoon in 1990.
* FROM OCT. 26, 2004: Stonechild investigation flawed: inquiry
The two officers repeatedly denied any connection to Stonechild's death.
Stonechild's friend, Jason Roy, testified he saw the teenager in the back of a police cruiser the night he disappeared.
The judge also found that police had done an inadequate job in their original investigation of Stonechild's death.
The case was largely forgotten by many for a decade, until two aboriginal men were found frozen to death in a field on the city's outskirts within one week in 2000.
A third man survived and told a tale of being driven to the field by Saskatoon police officers and being left to find his way back to the city.
Written by CBC News Online staff"
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2004/11/12/stonechild041112.htmlthats it? its like letting a spy go because there also a journalist.
