RCMP role in incident questioned
RCMP Sgt. Ben Parry has been asked to appear at the Dec 17 Shelburne Town Council meeting to discuss an allegedly racial incident which occured Halloween night in which a fight at a party led to a hit-and-run on Highway 103, which left two local boys seriously injured.
The RCMP met with residents recently to try and ease racial tensions which arose after the two incidents, but, according the a CBC report, the meeting may have had the opposite effect.
Councilman Roy O'Donnell made a motion at a recent council meeting that Sgt. Parry be asked to attend Council to discuss the incident and the subsequent actions, if any, of the RCMP.
"I feel that we represent the citizens of Shelburne, O'Donnell told SCT. "They have concerns and I thought the concerns should be addressed by the Sgt."
When asked if he thought citizens would attend the Council meeting, O'Donnell said he thought so. "I have had a lot of people talking to me about this."
On Halloween night, there was a fight at a party, reportedly provoked by one young man calling Steven Davis a "nigger". The young black man responded by thrashing the boy who spewed the racial epithet, then left the party with a friend.
The pair were hit by a vehicle on Highway 103, allegedly driven by the father of the boy who had been beaten . Both men were hospitalized with serious injuries.
Karen Davis is the mother of Steven. She says her son had a broken nose, broken eye socket and underwent six hours of surgery.
“They had to cut his skull,” she said.
Her son and a second man were charged with aggravated assault because of what happened at the party.
A month later, no one had been charged by the RCMP for hitting the two men with a car and the auto had not been impounded.
The public meeting raised questions about the way the Mounties have investigated the case.
People at the meeting, according to the CBC, wanted to know why the vehicle wasn't impounded, why the driver wasn't given a breathalyzer and why witnesses haven't been interviewed.
The RCMP say they've taken the case to the Crown, but there's not enough evidence to lay charges.
An attorney consulted by SCT said that it should be "standard procedure" in a case like this for the automobile to be impounded for forensic investigation and he cannot fathom why such was not the case here..
Attempts to reach Sgt. Parry for comments were unsuccessful.
Council meets at 7:00pm Wednesday at Town Hall on Water Street.
