Posted on 12/29/2009 3:47:30 PM PST by fanfan
A former mountie is in custody and Ottawa police are mourning one of their own after Const. Eric Czapnik was stabbed to death early Tuesday outside the Civic Campus of the Ottawa Hospital.
Czapnik was sitting in his cruiser outside the emergency department at about 4:30 a.m. writing in his notepad after responding to an unrelated call when the suspect approached.
The details of what happened next are unclear, but moments later Czapnik had been stabbed and his assailant wrestled to the ground by paramedics as their colleagues administered first aid. Despite being rushed into the hospital for treatment, Czapnik was declared dead about an hour later.
Kevin Gregson, 43, is expected in court Wednesday to be charged in the slaying.
Gregson was a Saskatchewan-based RCMP officer who pulled a knife on a Mormon church official in Regina in 2006. He received a conditional discharge after pleading guilty in a Regina court to uttering a death threat in that case.
Czapnik, 51, was a married father of four who had been on the force since April of 2007. He had come to Canada from his native Poland in 1990. He was assigned to the forces East Division. Czapnik was from a police family; his father was a police officer in Poland for 30 years, said Police Chief Vern White in a media briefing Tuesday.
In a brief interview with the Sun, Kevin Gregsons parents confirmed that their son is in police custody in connection with Tuesdays stabbing. Gregsons mother said when she spoke to her son early this morning, she heard not good things.
The matter is as serious as it gets, Gregsons lawyer, Israel Gencher, told a judge Tuesday.
Obviously this situation hits the police close to home and I expect that while they give due attention to every serious crime and every allegation of murder this one would have some special significance, Gencher said outside of court. I would expect a very thorough investigation.
Gencher spoke to his client on the phone and said hes doing as well as can be expected given the circumstances.
White said prior to the incident there had been no interaction between the officer and the suspect, who was captured at the scene with the help of four Ottawa paramedics.
Without their assistance I am not sure what would have happened, said White. They used our training to apprehend a suspect who was very difficult to apprehend.
White said the suspect was still fully engaged with Czapnik when the paramedics intervened. He also said it is likely they averted more bloodshed.
The tragedy is overwhelming, I have to say, White said, seeing the faces of the officers at the hospital this morning.
At the scene Tuesday two marked cruisers sat in the ambulance bay, the pavement strewn with evidence of the attack. A gun, a blood-covered knife, flashlight and other gear were left scattered near a pool of blood. An officers notepad lay open on the pavement, its pages flapping in the bitterly cold wind.
A grey Honda Civic four-door sedan was also inside the police tape. It had remained running for several hours as investigators checked it out.
The scene was guarded by officers in their vehicles at both sides of the bay. Major crime detectives interviewed witnesses and the police chaplain was on hand speaking with officers who remained at the hospital.
It is losing a member of your family, White said. Even though we are not always close not unlike a real family but in times like this we are very close and particularly when people put their lives on the line every day.
We all recognize it is a possibility, but it is not one we think will actually happen. Its a tough day.
This is the first murder of a city police officer since October of 1983, when Const. David Utman was fatally shot at the Bayshore Shopping Centre. Utman was a member of the former Nepean Police Department.
This dangerous goof was arrested and convicted in 2006 for threatining a Morman bishop with a knife.
Of course, he was let off with a conditional discharge(no criminal record) and let loose.
I imagine he was discharged from the Mounties with a nice settlement.
Probably an affirmative action hire, as he was later involved in a ‘native addictions program’.
You get what you pay for.
Ex-cop held in murder has history of violence
The man accused of stabbing an Ottawa cop to death this morning is a former RCMP officer.
Kevin Gregson, 43, was scheduled to appear at the Elgin Street courthouse sometime today, multiple sources confirmed to the Ottawa Sun. Gregson was a Saskatchewan-based RCMP officer who pulled a knife on a Mormon church official in Regina in 2006. He received a conditional discharge after pleading guilty in a Regina court to uttering a death threat in that case.
In a brief interview with the Sun on Tuesday morning, the parents of Kevin Gregson confirmed that their son is in police custody in connection to the fatal stabbing of the Ottawa police officer at the Ottawa Hospital’s Civic campus.
Gregson’s mother said when she spoke to her son early morning, she heard “not good things.”
She also confirmed that Gregson is, or was, an RCMP officer based in Saskatchewan. It is not known if Kevin Gregson is an active member of the RCMP, or if he is, where he is currently based.
In the 2006 incident, a Regina court heard that Gregson, off duty at the time, approached Bishop Robert Howie about receiving what’s called a “temple recommend”. That is a card that allows members to enter a Mormon temple for various ceremonies such as marriages or baptisms.
But the bishop told Gregson he had additional spiritual work to do.
Crown prosecutor Anthony Gerein said Gregson became angry. Gregson pulled a knife about eight inches in length with a four-inch blade. He said: “You don’t know how many ways I’ve been taught to kill.”
The bishop said he was worried that Gregson was going to kill him, the Crown said.
Eventually Gregson calmed down and left the bishop’s office, saying he felt messed up in his head.
Several months after the incident, Gregson was diagnosed with cysts in his brain and underwent surgery.
Gregson was silent after the sentencing and its believed the judge considered his medical condition when sentencing him.
“The medical condition played a large role the actual medical condition itself, but also the delay in getting it properly diagnosed and the delays in our systems in getting in for MRIs and the follow-ups,” Bishop told the CBC.
Gregson, who worked out of the RCMP’s Regina headquarters, was suspended with pay following the May 2006 incident.
http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2009/12/29/12293001.html
Prayers from a fellow Polak.
My husband just mentioned that to me. Special rules for special people. /barf
Coming soon to a health care treatment facility near you.
Either way, the operation didn’t seem to solve his problems.
Us, too.
Instead, we both seem to get mostly Sudanese, Nigerians, and Kenyans. Without passports.
I had a business trip once, where my first cabbie (home to Logan) was a Bulgarian and my next cabbie in Anchorage (Steves Airport to Hotel) was also a Bulgarian. The first one a University man in his twenties, the other a bitter apparatchik in his forties. I learned that St. Cyril, inventor of the Cyric Alphabet, was Bulgarian.
My next driver in Anchorage, hotel to Elmendorf, was a Nigerian, who was actually a very sweet guy. But, do we want to import more cabbies or more rocket scientists? Depends on whether you are a prospective Democratic or Republican politician, leader of a rabble of tractable peasants or representative of a proud and free people.
Aww, that’s so sweet of you GLC.
*HUG*
espaecially a kenyan born aug 4 1961
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