Siegl confronts VPD officer she claims assaulted her. Source: Danny Kresnyak/Facebook.
by Warrior Publications, Feb 14, 2015
During the nation-wide actions to “Shutdown Canada” on Feb 13, 2015, the largest turnout was in Vancouver, BC, where over 100 people blocked a main entrance to the Port of Vancouver. The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) deployed a couple dozen cops to the action, mostly members of the Public Safety Unit (PSU) in soft tac mode (baseball caps, no armour). This is fairly routine in Vancouver, where the PSU is frequently deployed for protests.
Among the PSU, one cop was observed carrying what appears to be an X-Stream large capacity pepper sprayer, which was contained inside a backpack.
VPD PSU member with what appears to be X-Stream large capacity pepper spray container in backpack. This spray can shoot 200 bursts and also create a fog out to 40 feet. Photo: Danny Kresnyak/Facebook.
There were approximately 4 arrests, although all were apparently released without charges.
VPD arresting an unknown person, Feb 13, 2015. Photo: Danny Kresnyak/Facebook.
In one incident, a member of the PSU (identified by one person as being a Constable McKinnon) appears to have deliberately walked into three women who were standing on a sidewalk at the intersection of Clark Drive and East Hastings Street. Audrey Siegel, an Indigenous woman participating in the action, had her hand drum smashed into her face as the cop bumped her, suffering bruising on the inside of her mouth.
The VPD cop can be seen approaching Siegl in this frame from an online video posted to Facebook.
In this frame, the cop’s shoulder appears to have shoved Siegl’s drum into her mouth.
Here is a link the Facebook video posted by Gunargie O’Sullivan: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153030809310664
In her own Facebook posting, Siegl stated:
“Yesterday, Feb 13, 2015, A VPD shoved Shannon& Savannah aside, and as he marched forward, looked right at me as he shoved my drum into my face with his shoulder. We three women were standing still, drumming n singing. He could have gone around instead of using aggression to intentionally intimidate and harm three unarmed and passive women. The Officer who shoved my drum into my face did apologize. It was an insincere & sarcastic apology which was accompanied by smirks, eye-rolls and comments from the other Officers to the tune of ‘I deserve it’. Yep. U read it right.
Audrey Siegl shows the injury she sustained after a VPD cop bumped her drum into her face. Facebook.
Two different officers told me I deserved it. One of those officers also said the women who got kneed and shoved to the ground deserved it. **At an event to bring awareness about the ongoing violence toward Indigenous women & the need for an enquiry in the MMIW, the POLICE used violent, unnecessary force which resulted in me getting hit in face by an OFFICER while other officers laughed, mocked and told me I deserve it.** The sergeant in command did a pathetic passing of the buck about the ‘incident’. He apologized for his officer’s actions that resulted in me getting hurt, but would not admit that is was entirely necessary for the officer to have shoved his way through us three women in the 1st place. The sergeant would also NOT address the two officers who told me I deserve it. He squirmed and would say nothing about it. In the end, I was shaken, emotional and hurt. It was confirmed, yet again, that to this system, to the VPD, I DESERVE to get hit, to have violence acted out on me. A month ago at the KM [Kinder Morgan] dinner in N Van, at a sustainable seafood restaurant, when the KM execs attacked & hurt me, the RCMP told me that because it happened on private property, that it didn’t matter if I got attacked and hurt. That what those KM execs did was perfectly acceptable because we were on private property…..welcome to 2015 folks.”
VPD Constable McKinnon. Source: Danny Kresnyak/Facebook.
Here’s another shot of the cop, has the number 2811 on his vest tag.
Update: If the cop involved in this incident is McKinnon, he was also charged in 2012 with assaulting a prisoner, according to the VPD:
Vancouver Police Constable Charged With Assault
March 26, 2012
A Vancouver Police Constable has been charged with assault in connection with the alleged striking of a prisoner in the patrol wagon.
Just before 8 a.m. on the morning of August 26, 2011, Constable Mathew McKinnon replaced a wagon driver who had been taken to hospital after she was pricked by a needle concealed in the clothing of a prisoner she was searching.
Constable McKinnon and his partner decided to approach the prisoner to ask him whether he had any communicable diseases. It is alleged that Constable McKinnon entered the wagon and assaulted the prisoner using physical force.
The prisoner was then taken to jail without further incident, examined by a jail nurse, and required no medical treatment.
Constable McKinnon has been reassigned to non-operational duties pending the outcome of his trial. The Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner was immediately advised of the incident and has been overseeing the Police Act investigation that is being conducted by the VPD Professional Standards Section.
As this matter is now before the courts, there is no further information for release at this time.
http://mediareleases.vpd.ca/2012/03/26/vancouver-police-constable-charged-with-assault/
Warrior Publications 
nice..so that means if an innocent person walks into my back yard i can beat them senseless! thanks for the private property clause!
Reblogged this on Dolphin and commented:
An officer assaulting a woman for standing up against violence against women….you can’t make this stuff up.
Big man McKinnon knows he can get away with it because he is backed by the thugs at VPD, where there are two kinds of pigs: the ones who are trained to be like McKinnon at the academy, and those who were born like McKinnon, assholes!!!
Try doing that to there mothers and Daughters .
Since when did the police forces of this world become the punishment force?Their job is to investigate and lay charges not brutalize or shoot people because of the ingrained attitude of untouchable.Cops are being killed everyday around this planet because people are scared of the people that should be protecting the ones that need protecting.Bad attitude no balls bunch that do what this officer did to this women. BULLYS WITH BADGES.
This incident with the woman being bumped by the police because of the mouth injury she sustained….should be broght to the Vancouver Police Commuissioners attention…in writing and an enquiry should be called….I was personally appalled reading this…Are not the police hired to serve and protect the public…meaning civilians??????
things like this should not happen but then again harper and Christy Clark don’t care. therefore they should be held accountable for the RCMP and vpd actions, the consequences do leave deep scars on us like the residential school did. enough said for now.
Please add a tag-line to photos 1-3 and 7 in this pieces. Credit should read: Danny Kresnyak, I am the photographer and would appreciate my work being noted.
Thanks Danny, credit noted.
Most white officers are ignorant assholes who are power hungry. They become dillusional, and use being a Police officer, as an outlet to assert the power they think they have. Out of uniform, -they’re still assholes. The only difference is that when they are called to keep a situation controlled, we can clearly see them by their actions. They can’t control their ugly predjudisms. As they brutalize their victims, they somehow forget that they are being filmed for the World to see? I’ve noted the expressions of other officers in the vicinity, where you can tell that they don’t agree with what their fellow officer just did, but they won’t speak up because it’s their silent oath to each other. People need to be aware that those ugly Cops who are power and ego driven, do shit exactly like that, hoping that your human instincts will kick in. We know when something was an “accident” and when something was done purposefully. We usually respond instinctively and retaliate. That’s exactly what those sick bastards are praying for. You then give them reason to brutalize you and they will, to their maximum capacity until you are injured almost seriously. They actually love the opportunity to unfold on you. Other officers with the same mindset usually join in. For any man to hit a woman purposefully and then half apologize with a smirk, -he’s no man that I would want to know in or out of uniform. Police Departments are not doing their job, when they hire intollerant dicks like that, and then refuse to implement authority over officers who act out and feel privileged to do so while hiding behind their uniform. They are supposedly doing their job to “Serve & Protect” and yet the public has to be protected from their power and ego driven predjudice idiots disguised as Police officers? Tax dollars are being used to pay those assholes who are out to injure and intimidate? Their asses should be thrown out of the force, just like any other employee would be if they pulled their crap out at any other job. It’s time that the people demanded that the Police restructure their departments and sift out the bully egomaniacs. When the public can’t feel safe from their own Police department, it’s long overdue, -it’s time.
Bullies with badges and a disgrace to our Country, So glad nowadays their are cameras everywhere, they used to get away with this 99% of the time now they’re recorded 99%..hopefully this lady and others who were present press charges and help bring an end to corrupt police brutality…VPD a Canadian disgrace!
Fuck the Police. Theyve been assaulting and abducting our women since the very beginning. Nothing has changed. This is a daily occurance for women in the DTES and all over vancouver and BC and Canada. ACAB.
The Police face constant taunting and ridicule based on complaints from heroin and drug addict’s in Vancouver that while arrested try there best to build a case against the police by advocacy, In hopes they will receive housing as vulnerable people A fare approach! . Under Neath it all the ADDICTS are crying out for help and for some one to just listen as well . The paperwork and hours the police put into defending these allegations is horrendously long and over timed. There attitude in my research shows a tired grumpy group of Fed Up men and woman at the VPD that have to do more because of the drug scene in Vancouver as It flows out to the streets in regards generally in the DTES. Clean up the drugs find housing for the marginalized and the cops will settle eventually and find a better more reasonable approach to change as it plays out. While In the mean time I never ride alone on my horse and have a large posy of people watching my back for me . Wrong venue and right “TIME FOR A BETTER PLACE” in my view. I had a lot more successes to talk about at Occupy and the camp out for day or as for some weeks It was chilled no arrests other than a couple of deaths for some for overdoing the dosage. Stopping traffic and protesting in Vancouver is or can be effective in my view though compared to what we organize New York in regards to any message? First we stream media live consistently Then march after a gathering is established. A lot more exposure when in the end there are 150 to a 10,00O people standing on a bridge with the traffic re routed away to make a point. No drum banging just a chant and solidarity for each other. This is my experience based on research not volumes of supporters. While I too care for Audrey and care about this as to a place where there is no reason for as well. I believe while thank you for letting me share that we will figure it all out as long as we never stop trying there will eventually while sooner than later be a new constant and a better world to live in as we rise as one Nation) Vancouver B.C. is no slouch when it come to getting there point across.>>>>>>>>>The most vigorous forms of community are those that come together in the context of a shared ordeal or those that define themselves as a group with a mission that lies beyond themselves – thus initiating a risky journey. Too much concern with safety and security, combined with comfort and convenience, has lulled us out of our true calling and purpose.” – Glenn David Loft
While I’m sure it’s stressful for cops working in the DTES, the Public Safety Unit of the VPD is not comprised simply of cops who work in that area of the city, so your rationale for their thuggish behavior doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. The cops will not simply “settle down” even if all the problems of the DTES were dealt with, addicts got treatment and the homeless got adequate shelter, etc, as their primary role is social control and this includes repression of social movements.
I agree with your comment while being an optimist and experiencing what I have spoken to abroad in regards to our hands up don’t shoot movement and die in;s I emailed Premier Clark and her field manager Audrey’s post from her page last night in same as to the picture of an RCMP recently grabbing a protestor at the line of Burnaby Mountain Kinder Morgan by the throat as asked to assist in 2011 prior to taking on any role as an activist. The RCMP throat grabber @ KM B.M. was quietly given a desk job while the VPD in regards to him being previously arrested if true as to the same type of incident will probably find the same or worse when we get to the bottom of this matter with Audrey standing up as she has decided to do for us all. A brave Warrior in our community We need support her as such.
It all starts from somewhere Zig Zag unfortunately we have been stigmatized and thrown into the same bin as the oppressed here in Vancouver. That cop unit was not the same as at Occupy the world is on the defence there practicing and falling as many warriors are as well. We must never stop the fight Enjoy one of my songs please http://www.thejellyfishproject.org/glenn-david-loft
Warm Regards Glenn David Loftreplayed.org604 499 4095 Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2015 02:21:04 +0000 To: glennloft@hotmail.com
Actually it was the same unit, the PSU, that did a lot of the policing at Occupy Vancouver. And your idea that the cops were different is probably because at Occupy Vancouver the cops were fairly hands off, the action initially had the moral support of a lot of people, and was led at first by middle class student activists. But even then there were numerous incidents of police aggression and assaults both at Occupy as well as some of the more radical protests that emerged from the encampment. As for the oppressed, what you don’t seem to grasp is that Native people are part of the oppressed, that’s why the Shutdown Canada action and the women’s memorial march and a number of other campaigns are being carried out.
Thank you for your clarification We will address this incident Provincially.
Incidents like this upset the public at large and deface police all over the world. It’s simply common place now. Am I surprised when a few gang bangers get together and shoot cops? No. That saddens me.
The root of the problem is officers such as him know only one path. Get rid of the bad guys. When you label everyone as the bad guy though you get incidents like this.
TL;DR Give police empathy courses, perhaps mandatory that they partake in community service x amount of times a month. Everyone benefits and they can continue fighting the bad guys… Also- get rid of violent police. No one benefits only problems. Stop coddling criminals with a badge, they just want power over others.
… and if a VPD members lip was bruised ‘accidentally’ like hers was what would happen?
When are people going to wake up period. Politics is what your watching. The players are looking for media coverage because they don’t have the support they need to get rich or famous. So many others not at the protest place themselves in harms way on a daily basis. And yet never are assaulted or ridiculed for their compassion in the DTES. I’m talking about health care service workers, teachers, tenant support workers, elders…et al. I will pray that actual help for all people living in poverty here in the DTES will begin to materialize. Perhaps then people will begin to believe in some of your goals. Politics and a loud mouth don’t feed anyone, solutions first, before chaos please. Peace and love. K.D.A.Washburn
Caveat: The police have dropped the ball as so far as public engagement and protocol, Police should have an exercise in empathy to discover how many of them are power mongers…
Please read Charter of rights and freedoms if you are pursuing charges…
have written to the police about this incident and mc kin non’s behaviour ( assault )…
” Want to Make a Comment About the VPD or a VPD Officer?
If you would like to make a comment by email, you can send your message to vpd@vpd.ca. Please note that this email address is not monitored 24 hours a day and we are unable to take crime reports by email.”
Thank God, for technology. Imagine what they did before they knew they were being filmed!
who the fuck does he think he is he don’t own anything he is just a butt kisser to the gov. that is y he has a brown mark on his face, i wonder what gov. he kissed, no denying that f*&#face.
Thank God for cameras.Hope they do something with this piece of crap before he kills someone.It’s amazing how a piece of rag can transform the human mind into something so ugly.
It’s amazing how a uniform can transform the human mind into something so ugly. Time to get rid of crap like him before he kills someone. Thank God for the cameras.
by Warrior Publications, Feb 14, 2015 During the nation-wide actions … bwarriorsa.wordpress.com
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