3 charged, including Peel police shooting victim, after police facilities allegedly defaced
CBC News | Posted: December 31, 2020 4:16 AM | Last Updated: December 31, 2020
Chantelle Krupka and father of Jamal Francique among those charged, lawyer says
Peel police say they have charged three people for allegedly defacing police facilities during two separate protests earlier this month.
In a news release on Wednesday, police said a 30-year-old man from Mississauga, a 50-year-old man from Brampton, and a 34-year-old woman from Mississauga were each charged with one count of mischief over $5,000.
Names of the accused were not provided in the release.
All three were charged in connection with a Dec. 11 protest outside 11 Division at 3030 Erin Mills Parkway.
The woman was also charged with a second count of mischief over $5,000 for allegedly defacing a police memorial monument during a Dec. 19 protest outside Peel police headquarters at 7150 Mississauga Road.
All are scheduled to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton on March 5, 2021.
In a statement on Wednesday, Knia Singh J.D., a lawyer, said two of three charged are Chantelle Krupka and Derek Francique.
Krupka is a Mississauga woman who was shot in the hip by a Peel police officer on May 9 after the police tasered her and her partner. Francique is the father of Jamal Francique, 28, who was shot by a Peel police officer on Jan. 7 and who died in hospital on Jan. 9.
Ontario's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) investigated the police shooting of Krupka and charged Valerie Briffa, the now former officer who discharged her firearm in the incident, with criminal negligence causing bodily harm, assault with a weapon and careless use of a firearm. Briffa has resigned from the force.
The SIU is continuing to investigate the police shooting of Francique. The SIU has said police were in the area to make an arrest and he was a person of interest in a vehicle.
Police have discretion to lay charges, lawyer says
Singh said the handling of the protests is a "missed opportunity" by Peel police to improve community and police relations.
"Police have discretion to lay charges, an alternate resolution could have been achieved in this situation," the statement reads.
"If victims and community members cannot express their anger and frustration with the amount of people shot and killed by Peel Police, and the lack of accountability from the SIU and other government agencies, it will be a serious threat to the fundamental right to protest and is a limitation on the freedom of expression of community members."
The statement argues that the decision to charge a Peel police shooting victim and a family member of another Peel police shooting victim contradicts "earlier progress" made by the police and Peel police board this year on race relations.
Peel police signed a memorandum of understanding with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario this year to develop legally binding remedies to eliminate racial discrimination, it added.
In its news release on Wednesday, Peel police said they were aware that the Dec. 11 protest was going to take place. The release also claims they made plans to create space for protesters to gather.
"During the demonstration, several attendees threw a paint-like substance, defacing the facility and surrounding exterior grounds, resulting in a mischief to property," police said in the release.