Expert calls for coroner's inquiry into Ottawa officer's slaying

A former high-ranking official with the federal solicitor general's office is calling for a coroner's inquiry into the death of Ottawa police Const. Eric Czapnik.  

Irvin Waller says more information needs to come out about Kevin Gregson, the 43-year-old suspended RCMP officer charged with stabbing Czapnik to death on Tuesday outside the Civic Campus of the Ottawa Hospital.

Waller was the first director general of research for the solicitor general of Canada, the cabinet minister responsible for the RCMP. He left the office in 1980 and is now a professor of criminology at the University of Ottawa.

Waller said he would like to see more detail be made public about Gregson's history with the RCMP and how the force treated him.  

"Those questions will not be answered by a conviction in the criminal courts," said Waller.

"They have to be answered by a coroner's inquiry or some other inquiry that gets at the truth and looks to see what has gone wrong in those systems. We need that urgently, and I think we need it out of respect for the person who died and for his family."

Gregson has been charged with first-degree murder in Czapnik's death.

Czapnik, 51, was attacked around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday while sitting in his cruiser taking notes outside the hospital's emergency department on an unrelated police matter.

There was no known connection between Gregson and Czapnik, a father of four.

In April 2007, Gregson pleaded guilty in a Regina court to uttering a death threat against a Mormon bishop but received a conditional discharge when his lawyer persuaded the judge that cysts in Gregson's brain had contributed to his behaviour.

The court heard that Gregson was off duty when he approached the bishop about receiving a "temple recommend," which allows members to enter a Mormon temple for religious ceremonies.

When the bishop told Gregson he had additional spiritual work to do before he could receive the recommendation, Gregson became angry and said: "I'm a cop; I'm not like the rest of you," according to court documents.

Gregson then pulled out a knife and said, "You don't know how many ways I've been taught to kill." After he calmed down, Gregson left the bishop's office complaining about feeling "messed up" in his head, the court heard.

Several months after that incident, Gregson was diagnosed with cysts in his brain. He has since had brain surgery and been under suspension without pay from his position at the RCMP's Regina headquarters.

He has been ordered to resign from the force or be dismissed but is appealing that order.