Crime
Ontario police officers did not draw firearms before they were fatally shot: watchdog
By Holly McKenzie-Sutter
Two police officers who died responding to a call at an Innisfil, Ont., home did not draw their firearms before they were shot, Ontario’s police watchdog said Thursday, as grieving friends and colleagues remembered the two men as kind and dedicated.
The Special Investigations Unit had said a day earlier that there was an “exchange of gunfire” Tuesday night between the two officers and a 23-year-old man, who also died in the shooting.
New details emerged from the agency on Thursday, including that a third officer had been at the home.
“Based on preliminary information, the two officers did not draw their firearms when they were fatally shot,” Special Investigations Unit spokeswoman Kristy Denette said in a written statement.
“A third officer who was also at the house exchanged gunfire with the man.”
The South Simcoe Police Service has identified the officers who died as Const. Devon Northrup, 33, and Const. Morgan Russell, 54. The third officer, who hasn’t been named, was not injured, Denette said.
The SIU, which is still investigating, said the three officers were responding to a call from a family member about a disturbance at a home.
The 23-year-old man, who lived at the home, had a gun that the SIU said was a SKS semi-automatic rifle. An autopsy on the man is set for Friday, the SIU said.
The SIU did not name the young man but a source close to the investigation identified him as Chris Doncaster.
Court records show that a Chris Doncaster was charged with mischief under $5,000 in October 2018 and two failures to appear in court. All three charges were withdrawn in June of the following year.
The Department of National Defence confirmed Thursday that a man named Christopher Joseph Doncaster was a Canadian Armed Forces member from May to December 2020.
“He was a private with no deployment history and who did not complete basic training,” the department said.
An Instagram account that uses the name Chris Doncaster featured a photo posted over a year ago that appeared to depict a young man posing on a South Simcoe Police Service jet ski.
Residents who live in the area have expressed shock at what happened. Some said an elderly couple who had an adult grandson lived in the house where the shooting took place.
South Simcoe police said words cannot describe the grief the force is experiencing.
Northrup, a six-year member of the South Simcoe Police Service, worked with the community mobilization and engagement unit, and also served as a member of the mental health crisis outreach team and the emergency response unit. He is survived by his partner and parents, police said.
In 2020, Northrup was given an Excellence in Emergency award by the force for his role in helping a person in crisis.
“The officers can take comfort in knowing they saved this man’s life that day,” an annual report by the police force read.
Russell, a father of two, was a 33-year veteran of the force. He was a trained crisis negotiator and was assigned to uniform patrol, the police service said.
Condolences and memories of the two officers continued to pour in on Thursday.
Flowers were seen placed outside South Simcoe Police’s Innisfil detachment, and a community vigil drew mourners together Wednesday night as the officers were remembered.
“From the flowers and food being dropped off at our stations, to last night’s packed candlelight vigil, to Innisfil Beach Park lit up in blue, to the book of condolence in Bradford, for all the posts and notes of condolence – thank you,” South Simcoe Police tweeted on Thursday afternoon.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving expressed sadness over Northrup’s passing, saying he was “played a pivotal role” at the organization’s York Region Chapter, where he worked as a former treasurer and director at large.
“Devon was a gentle giant with a smile that would light up a room; he will be truly missed,” MADD York Region said in a Facebook post.
Georgian College said in a statement that the school community was “saddened” about the loss of Russell, who graduated from the Law and Security program in 1988.
College president Kevin Weaver shared condolences for Northrup and said flags would be lowered at Barrie and Orillia campuses in their memory.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 13, 2022.
Crime
Biden’s ‘preemptive pardons’ would set ‘dangerous’ precedent, constitutional scholar warns
From LifeSiteNews
By Bob Unruh
Constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley warned that preemptive pardons ‘would do precisely what Biden suggests that he is deterring: create a dangerous immunity for presidents and their allies in committing criminal abuses.’
An expert who not only has testified before Congress on the U.S. Constitution but has represented members in court cases is warning about Joe Biden’s speculated agenda to deliver to his friend and supporters preemptive pardons.
It is Jonathan Turley, the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University and author of The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage, who wrote, “After years of lying to the American people about the influence-peddling scandal and promising not to consider a pardon for his son, Biden would end his legacy with the ultimate dishonesty: converting pardons into virtual party favors.”
There has been much speculation about those preemptive pardons from Biden, who lied about allowing juries and courts to determine the outcomes of son Hunter’s criminal gun and tax cases, flip-flopped and pardoned him.
Hunter Biden could have been ordered to jail for years for his felony gun convictions and his guilty pleas to felony tax charges.
However, Joe Biden handed him a get-out-of-jail free card, then followed up with hundreds and hundreds more commutations and pardons to a long list of those with criminal convictions.
The activity triggered a rash of speculation about those preemptive pardons, and Turley explains what’s going on.
“Democrats are worried about the collapsing narrative that President-elect Donald Trump will destroy democracy, end future elections, and conduct sweeping arrests of everyone from journalists to homosexuals. That narrative, of course, ignores that we have a constitutional system of overlapping protections that has blocked such abuses for over two centuries.”
Thus, the talk of preemptive pardons, but Turley said it wouldn’t work out.
“Ironically, preemptive pardons would do precisely what Biden suggests that he is deterring: create a dangerous immunity for presidents and their allies in committing criminal abuses,” he said.
He noted if Biden delivers those pardons, “he would fundamentally change the use of presidential pardons by granting ‘prospective’ or ‘preemptive’ pardons to political allies. Despite repeated denials of President-elect Donald Trump that he is seeking retaliation against opponents and his statements that he wants ‘success [to be] my revenge,’ Democratic politicians and pundits have called for up to thousands of such pardons.”
He explained there’s politics all over the scheme.
“After many liberals predicted the imminent collapse of democracy and that opponents would be rounded up in mass by the Trump Administration, they are now contemplating the nightmare that democracy might survive and that there will be no mass arrests,” he wrote. “The next best thing to a convenient collapse of democracy is a claim that Biden’s series of preemptive pardons averted it. It is enough to preserve the narrative in the face of a stable constitutional system.”
But there will be a cost to such a “political stunt,” he said.
“Preemptive pardons could become the norm as presidents pardon whole categories of allies and even themselves to foreclose federal prosecutions. … It will give presidents cover to wipe away any threat of prosecution for friends, donors, and associates. This can include self-pardons issued as implied condemnations of their political opponents. It could easily become the final act of every president to pardon himself and all of the members of his Administration.
“We would then have an effective immunity rule for outgoing parties in American politics.”
He noted that in the past, Bill Clinton pardoned both family members and political donors.
“Yet, despite that history, no president has seen fit to go as far as where Biden appears to be heading,” he said. Promoters of the plan, he said, “would prefer to fundamentally change the use of the pardon power to maintain an apocalyptic narrative that was clearly rejected by the public in this election. If you cannot prove the existence of the widely touted Trump enemies list, a Biden pardon list is the next best thing.”
Reprinted with permission from the WND News Center.
Alberta
B.C. traveller arrested for drug exportation during Calgary layover
From the Alberta RCMP
B.C. traveller arrested for drug exportation during Calgary layover
Calgary – On Nov. 17, 2024, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers at the Calgary International Airport were conducting outbound exams when they intercepted luggage from a commercial flight destined for the United Kingdom. During the exam, officers found and seized 12 kg of pressed cocaine and a tracking device. The owner of the bag was subsequently arrested by CBSA prior to boarding a flight to Heathrow Airport.
The Integrated Border Enforcement Team in Alberta, a joint force operation between the RCMP Federal Policing Northwest Region, CBSA and Calgary Police Service, was notified and a criminal investigation was initiated into the traveller and the seized drugs.
Justin Harry Carl Beck, 29, a resident of Port Coquitlam, B.C., was arrested and charged with:
- Exportation of a controlled substance contrary to section 6(1) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act;
- Possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking contrary to section 5(2) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.
Beck is scheduled to appear at the Alberta Court of Justice in Calgary on May 6, 2025.
“This seizure is a testament to the exemplary work and investigative expertise shown by CBSA Border Services Officers at Calgary International Airport. Through our key partnerships with the RCMP and the Calgary Police Service, the CBSA works to disrupt those attempting to smuggle illegal drugs across our borders and hold them accountable.”
- Janalee Bell-Boychuk, Regional Director General, Prairie Region, Canada Border Services Agency
“The RCMP Federal Policing Northwest Region’s top priority has always been, and will continue to be, public safety. This investigation serves as an important reminder that this extends beyond any border. By working together, we prevented this individual from importing an illicit substance into a foreign country where it had the potential to cause significant harm to others, all for the sake of turning a profit.”
- Supt. Sean Boser, Officer in Charge of Federal Serious Organized Crime and Border Integrity – Alberta, RCMP Federal Policing Northwest Region
“This investigation underscores the importance of collaboration in drug trafficking investigations. Our partnerships with law enforcement agencies across the country, and internationally, are vital to addressing crimes that cross multiple borders. By intercepting these drugs before they could reach their destination, we have ensured a safer community, both locally and abroad.”
- Supt. Jeff Bell, Criminal Operations & Intelligence Division, Calgary Police Service
IBET’s mandate is to enhance border integrity and security along the shared border, between designated ports of entry, by identifying, investigating and interdicting persons, organizations and goods that are involved in criminal activities.
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