The reliability of the memories of a former East St. Paul police officer were called into question at the Taman Inquiry today.
PDF file of original Taman accident report (1 MB)
Derek Harvey-Zenk
Ken Graham, who left the East St. Paul force under a cloud of controversy, was one of four local police officers who were at the scene of the fatal crash three years ago where Crystal Taman was killed.
Commission council David Paciocco questioned Graham repeatedly over the times that events happened that morning, what he did and when.
Paciocco said Graham’s recollections today were at odds with answers he gave to the RCMP two years ago and to a commission lawyer four months ago.
Paciocco said the most glaring inconsistency was when Graham told RCMP two years ago that then-police chief Harry Bakema told him he was calling in a sergeant to the investigation because he needed help.
But on the stand today, Graham said Bakema brought the sergeant in because of Bakema’s former relationship with Derek Harvey-Zenk when they both worked for the Winnipeg Police Service.
Graham said he realizes the issue of a prior relationship between Bakema and Harvey-Zenk is important but he couldn’t recall why he hadn’t told anyone about the conversation before.
Graham also told the inquiry today that Bakema told him that he couldn’t smell any alcohol on Harvey-Zenk’s breath that day but there was no such mention of that conversation in Graham’s notes at the time or to an RCMP officer who questioned him in 2006.
Bakema had been a sergeant at the North End station where both men worked for several years before Bakema retired and then later was hired to head up the East St. Paul force.
It’s been alleged that East St.Paul’s investigation of the crash and the actions of Bakema and his officers undermined the prosecution and resulted in all alochol-related charges against Harvey-Zenk being withdrawn.
At least one other East St. Paul police officer and two paramedics at the scene said they could smell alcohol on Harvey-Zenk’s breath.
A Winnipeg police officer testified Thursday that an officer told him that Harvey-Zenk had been drinking in the hours leading up to the crash and that he had been so drunk that other officers tried to stop him from driving home.
Graham left the East St. Paul police force in March 2006 after a complaint, unrelated to the Taman fatality, had been made against him.
Bakema was fired from the force about a month before, following a review of the force’s investigation of the Taman fatality.
Both Graham and Bakema have spent the past two years as real estate agents, working out of the same ReMax Professionals office.
Earlier today at the Inquiry, an East St. Paul police officer told said she was concerned that the prosecution of Harvey-Zenk might have been jeopardized because he had been detained for a long time without being read his Charter Rights.
Const. Glenda Pederson said Harvey-Zenk was kept in the back of a locked police vehicle for hours on the morning of Feb. 25, 2005 before he was taken to the East St. Paul police station where he was later arrested.
“I felt there could have been problems down the road,” Pederson said.
Pederson said individuals placed in the rear of a police vehicle are unable to leave open the door, adding that constitutes detention. She said she was always trained that if an individual is detained, then he must be read his rights, including the right to a lawyer.
The issue of when Harvey-Zenk was arrested and given his Charter rights is believed to have undermined the case against the former Winnipeg Police officer.
As she finished her testimony, Pederson was given permission to address the inquiry, where she broke down in tears as she offered an apology to the Taman family.
“I think of (Crystal Taman) every time I pass the memorial at the scene,” Pederson said. “I’ll never forget her face and I just wanted to let them know that.”
Pederson was embraced by Taman’s husband, Robert, and son Jordan, as she left the inquiry room.
Earlier, Pederson said that she could smell the odour of stale liquor on Harvey-Zenk’s breath more than six hours after the fatal crash that killed Crystal Taman.
Pederson said she was in the East St. Paul police headquarters just before 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 25, 2005 when she was instructed by a superior to take Harvey-Zenk’s fingerprints and mug shot.
Pederson said she was standing less than two feet from Harvey-Zenk as she took his fingerprints.
“I could smell stale liquor on his breath,” Pederson said. “His eyes were still somewhat glassy.
“He was deliberate and slower, hesitant, in his answers to my questions.”
The crash at the intersection of Highway 59 and the North Perimeter happened just after 7 a.m.
Pederson acknowledged that her observations would be critical in an investigation of a drunk-driving fatality but she said she didn’t make any notes about Harvey-Zenk’s condition and didn’t tell anyone else for up two days later.
Pederson said that when she reported to work the next day, then-police chief Harry Bakema was fixated on the fate of Harvey-Zenk and he showed little concern for the Taman family.
Pederson said Bakema said that Harvey-Zenk’s career as a police officer was ruined and he openly worried about his future and kept talking about it.
“He seemed to dwell more on the accused and the consequences for him,” she said.
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