Dr. Dawg

Assault and its consequences

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Firoz Khan.jpg

Firoz (Phil) Khan was a newspaper deliveryman in Vancouver, going about his business one evening in January, 2009, when he was set upon by three drunken off-duty cops.

A city worker who witnessed part of the brutal assault said:

“There was a guy lying on his stomach on the ground and there’s another guy on his back punching him in the back of his head and the force of his punches is making the other guy’s face hit the cement.”

He knew Khan by sight:

“We all know each other. He’s the nicest guy. He waves to us all the time. I’ve never seen him get mad even when we park in front of the paper boxes. When I realized it was him I was in shock. He looked horrified.

“Then I start yelling, ‘Someone call the cops …. call the police,’ and the guy on top is yelling ‘Cross your legs right now,’ and he’s bending his legs saying, ‘I’m gonna break your legs.’

“A second guy came in and kicked him [Khan] in the ribs two or three times. There were three white guys there. I only saw two hitting him. I think the others came in a taxi,” he said.

Khan remembers:

During the incident, the male said “we don’t like brown people,” Khan said.

Mr. Khan said he was delivering 75 newspapers to the Hyatt when the early-morning attack occurred. He said Constable Gillan asked for directions and was dissatisfied by Mr. Khan’s slow response. At that point, he said the officer kneed him in the stomach and knocked him to the ground, where the attack continued.

Constable [Griffin] Gillan then called two officers he had been out with earlier in the evening, including Constable [Jeffrey]Klassen. Witnesses said they saw Constable Klassen punching Mr. Khan’s back and yelling at him to “stay down or I will kill you.”

One of the three police officers involved, Blair Tanino, was never charged. The goon who attacked Khan first (Gillan) was given 21 days of house arrest and six months probation.

Gillan’s buddy Klassen, who collaborated in the assault, kicking Khan when he was down, has just been handed a conditional discharge. The judge said he had already “paid a steep price,” losing income and having to fork out legal expenses.

Here’s Khan’s price, which the judge somehow forgot to take into account:

Azool Jaffer-Jeraj, Mr. Khan’s lawyer, said his client has not returned to work. He said Mr. Khan has had trouble with his memory since the incident and suffered soft tissue damage to his brain. [emphases added]

Ah, well. At least they didn’t kill him with Tasers. Then they might have been charged with perjury.

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This page contains a single entry by Dr. Dawg published on June 11, 2011 11:25 AM.

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