A North Vancouver man who was arrested and left in a cell for more than four hours after an encounter with police in Lions Gate Hospital has been awarded $15,000 in damages.
Provincial court Judge Carol Baird Ellan ordered the province to pay the money to Jeung Ki Park on behalf of the Mounties after ruling Park was wrongfully arrested and falsely imprisoned.
Park sued the RCMP after an altercation at the hospital six years ago in which he was tackled by police and security guards in the lobby.
Park asked the judge for between $20,000 and $25,000. The lawyer for the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General suggested an award of $3,500.
Park had gone to the hospital that day with his elderly mother who was getting tests done. The incident unfolded after his mothers oncologist rebuffed Park when he tried to start a conversation in the chemotherapy unit without an appointment. Park and his mother had decided to make a complaint to the hospital when they were confronted by police officers in the lobby. A verbal altercation between Park and Cpl. Lesley Norman of the North Vancouver RCMP quickly escalated, and within minutes Park had been tackled to the ground and handcuffed by police in front a crowd of onlookers.
Park was then taken to the North Vancouver RCMP detachment and held in a cell for several hours including a period of time when the investigating officer left to attend court on an unrelated case.
In awarding the damages to Park, the judge said the police officer was negligent and inattentive to Parks rights including keeping him for more than four hours completely unnecessarily.
Baird Ellan addedà The matter could have been dealt with in a less heated manner on both sides if the officer had simply asked Park to go outside the hospital to discuss it.
She said the event was likely traumatizing for Parks ailing mother to see her son taken down and carted away.
No doubt the incident has forever tainted for him the final portion of his mothers life, the judge wrote, adding it has likely left Park with a lingering mistrust of police.
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