Witnesses no-shows at police discipline hearing

Witnesses to a 2002 incident in which a police officer used a stun gun eight times on a 16-year-old-boy failed to show up at a disciplinary hearing Tuesday in Edmonton.

Const. Mike Wasylyshen faces five charges under the Police Act, including two counts of unlawful or unnecessary exercise of authority and three counts of insubordination.

The charges stem from an incident Oct. 5, 2002, when Randy Fryingpan, 25, was stunned eight times in just over a minute as he lay passed out in a friend’s car.

The presiding officer, Acting Supt. Paul Manuel of the Calgary Police Service, was expecting to hear from police officers and Fryingpan’s friends.

But he was told one police officer has left the Edmonton Police Service and lives in northern Ontario, while another is on a training course in Ottawa.

Prosecutor Derek Cranna told Manuel that Fryingpan’s friends could not been found despite months of searching. He asked the hearing to rely instead on testimony from a provincial court case in 2005 in which all the witnesses testified.

Cranna argued the testimony is "the most reliable evidence that we can find."

Wasylyshen's lawyer, however, said that would leave his client at a disadvantage since his lawyer would be unable to cross-examine the witnesses.

Manuel said he was satisfied the search for the witnesses was exhaustive and the transcripts are reliable.

The hearing has been adjourned until Monday, Nov. 8.