A feeling of dread came over John Parr after his conversation with the Cape Breton Regional Police sergeant on Wednesday evening.
It had been one day shy of a month since the New Waterford resident filed a formal complaint to the Office of the Nova Scotia Police Complaints Commissioner, accusing the Cape Breton Regional Police of mishandling its investigation into the death of his 17-year-old son, Joneil Hanna, who was killed after attending a booze-fuelled party in Leitches Creek in June.
Since filing his complaint on Aug. 27, Parr waited for assurance that the police force would be subject to an independent investigation. Cape Breton Regional Police Sgt. Ken Routledge gave no indication of this on Wednesday, he said.
Routledge invited Parr to meet him at the department’s Glace Bay detachment the next day where the pair could discuss his complaint. He was informed the conversation would be recorded.
“I decided not to go and I won’t until I talk to a lawyer first,” said Parr. “I’m just really afraid that this review I want done so badly is going to be done entirely by the Cape Breton Regional Police. I’m just stuck with this terrible feeling that no one will ever be held accountable for Joneil’s death.”
Parr might never get an independent investigation. The first step of the provincial police complaints process dictates that the police department subject to the complaint is to conduct an internal review to determine any wrongdoing. The chief of police has the option of getting an outside department to conduct the review. The complainant can appeal the findings of the review, which must be concluded 60 days after the complaint has been filed, but the police complaints commissioner decides whether to pursue the complaint further. The commissioner could investigate or refer the matter to the Nova Scotia Police Review Board for further review. Decisions by the commissioner and the review board are final.
“What happens if the Cape Breton Regional Police does a shoddy, dishonest review of their own flawed investigation and the commissioner looks at it and thinks it’s OK? Then that’s where it ends. Why can’t we just get an independent look at the investigation?
Hayden Laffin, the driver of the vehicle that struck and killed Hanna on Highway 223, had also attended the June grad party and had been witnessed drinking. Laffin was permitted to leave the event by a Cape Breton Regional police officer shortly before the fatal incident. Laffin, who police said showed no signs of intoxication, was never subjected to a breathalyzer.
Cape Breton Regional Police came under heavy public criticism over the course of its near three-month investigation, ending with Police Chief Peter McIsaac issuing a public statement in August stating he had complete confidence “in the actions of our officers and our unfolding investigation.”
The investigation ultimately ended with Laffin being charged with obstruction of justice. Family and friends of the victim continue to protest the police’s handling of the case.
The party hosts Kenneth Raymond Wilkie, 52, and Donna Lorraine Wilkie, 49, are each charged with permitting drunkenness on their property.
Neither the Cape Breton Regional Police or the Office of the Nova Scotia Police Complaints Commissioner would comment on the status of the investigation on Friday. Nor would provincial Justice Minister Mark Furey comment. Furey, who has the authority to investigate any policing matters, has maintained confidence in the department’s investigation.
Halifax personal injury lawyer Lyndsay Jardine is reviewing Cape Breton Regional Police’s handling of the investigation. She says Cape Breton Regional Police should not be permitted to investigate themselves.
“My own view is that when you bring a serious complaint against a body like the police, in this case the death of a very young boy, it should be dealt with by another body,” said Jardine. “I do not think that it is appropriate that the Cape Breton Regional Police are investigating a complaint of their own wrongdoing of this magnitude. They are not an unbiased arbiter to asses what happened.”
Furthermore, she believes the police never did a full investigation of the boy’s death.
“They let the driver go from the scene of the accident without subjecting him to a breathalyzer, no blood alcohol testing. They had a limited time to gather evidence so that it could actually be used for any kind of legal process and they didn’t do that.
“A complaint with respect to the conduct of the police in their failure to do any kind of meaningful investigation into his death should not be handled by the same police body that failed to do any kind of thorough investigation in the first place.”
