Scanned, recopied or Internet copy, if there are errors, please e-mail me with corrections: Opening comments: More at the end. The Record (KITCHENER) - Mar. 3, 2010 - By Brian Caldwell, Record staff - bcaldwell@therecord.com Kitchener man suing police over A man who was arrested at gunpoint during a raid at his Kitchener house is suing Waterloo Regional Police for $25,000 for allegedly violating his rights. Police were looking for guns, but didn’t find any, when tactical officers broke down the door and threw flash grenades into an Ottawa Street North house as a diversion in April 2007. Jason Lamka, now 28, was renting a room at the house — which is owned by his cousin, Joel Elliot — when he was ordered onto the floor, handcuffed with a rifle pointed at his head and strip-searched at a police station after his arrest. “It’s almost like they treated me like a terrorist or something, coming in like that,” he testified Tuesday in small claims court in Kitchener. “It really made me feel low, just like nothing.” Officers spent four hours searching the house, but didn’t turn up any weapons. Arrested for possession of a firearm even though one was never found, Lamka was held in a jail cell for about seven hours before he was released without charges. He is suing for the maximum amount allowed in small claims court, alleging he was unlawfully arrested and imprisoned by police who trespassed and used excessive force. Police deny the allegations, arguing they had authorization to conduct the “high-risk” search and grounds to arrest Lamka after getting information during an investigation into a violent street gang called the Stick-Up Kids. “Under the circumstances, (officers) used the least amount of force necessary to enter and secure the premises and execute the search warrant,” police said in a statement of defence. Court heard that police had been investigating the gang for several months after members started a brawl at a Waterloo house party in which a young man almost died of a stab wound to the neck. Sgt. Gregory Harrison testified information from numerous sources, including confidential informants, suggested one of Lamka’s relatives was the leader of the gang and had firearms. It was out of concern for public safety, he said, that police used the information to get a search warrant for the Ottawa Street house from a justice of the peace. The relative — who can’t be named because he was a youth — was then in custody and had never lived at the home, but there were plans for him to move in and his belongings were there. An affidavit used to obtain the warrant also alleged Lamka was a member of the Slingers, another local street gang. Lamka acknowledged he’s had a rough life — ending up on the street at 14 after going in and out of foster care — and that he was then on bail for possession of drugs and dangerous weapons. But he denied being a gang member and said he knew nothing about guns or his relative’s alleged leadership of the Stick-Up Kids. “I just knew at the time that it was all for nothing,” he said of the raid. “I knew I was in the right and they were in the wrong.” Lamka was partially successful in a 2008 lawsuit against local police, getting $750 in damages after a judge found he was improperly arrested for public drunkenness. He is represented by Davin Charney, a social activist who had numerous run-ins with the law himself before becoming a lawyer and launching lawsuits against police. The case is scheduled to resume in April. Home Page - Main Table of Contents - Back up a page - Back to Top [COMMENTS BY DON B. - ] |
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