1.22.2010

vancouver police officers beat innocent man

This is a ridiculous story out of Vancouver, about a man who was dragged out of his house in the middle of the night and beaten by police officers in a case of mistaken identity: Innocent man beaten by officers did not resist: Vancouver police.

Officers were called to a home in southeast Vancouver afer woman called 911 to report that her drunken husband had struck her in the back of the head and she was concerned for her baby's safety. Unfortunately, the cops knocked on the wrong door -- the door of 44-year-old Yaowei Wu.

The officers apparently didn't realize there were two suites in the home and the complainant was actually Wu's tenant, who lives in a ground-floor suite. According to Wu, before he could ask who the officers at his door were, he was dragged outside and beaten.

On Thursday, Vancouver Police claimed that Wu had "resisted by striking out at the police and trying to slam the door, but the officers persisted in the belief that there may be a woman and child inside who could be in danger."

However, at a news conference on Friday, police said in a statement that Wu did not resist the officers -- it was indeed just a case of mistaken identity... and some really idiot police officers. Big fat oops.

Wu was taken to Vancouver General Hospital as a precautionary measure, where he was treated for bruises to his head, waist and knees and fractured bones around his left eye. He returned to hospital today to make sure his eye wasn't damaged.

The Vancouver Police Department's Professional Standards Section will be conducting an investigation and the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner has been notified. Somebody's getting in troubblllle. More here: Vancouver police retract statement about beaten man.

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