Posted on 04/11/2006 11:22:14 AM PDT by kiriath_jearim
Regina police sued after 911 call fails to prevent murder
CBC News
Relatives of a murdered woman in Regina are suing the city's police force, saying officers took too long to respond to a 911 call from a neighbour who heard her screaming.
Derek Kinna said he wonders if his mother, Janice Louise Kinna, could have survived the stabbing injuries inflicted by her boyfriend two years ago if police hadn't taken more than half an hour to show up.
"What if they got there sooner?" Kinna asked. "What if they walked in there during the middle of the act and possibly had a chance to stop the bleeding?"
Kenneth Eldon Ireland later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years.
The emergency call at the heart of the lawsuit, filed Friday, was made by a neighbour at Kinna's east-end Regina apartment building who heard the 47-year-old woman screaming on April 7, 2004.
Records show police showed up 31 minutes after the call was logged. They found Kinna dead of multiple stab wounds.
Ireland was arrested hours later.
At the time of her death, Kinna had a restraining order against Ireland that required him to stay away from her. He had previously been charged with assaulting her.
The family is also suing SaskTel, where both Kinna and Ireland were employed, saying the Crown corporation failed to protect Kinna at work.
Kinna left work in the company of her killer on the day she died, but her son doesn't think she went willingly.
"He went past security after knowing he shouldn't be having any contact with her," said Derek Kinna. "[At] that point in their relationship, I can't see my mom leaving with him unless some kind of ultimatum was put on her."
No one from the Regina Police Service or SaskTel had anything to say about the lawsuit.
However, shortly after Kinna's death, Deputy Chief Clive Weighill said officers were facing a backlog of high-priority calls that afternoon.
When the call about Kinna came in, officers were dealing with a break and enter in progress, an escapee from a psychiatric ward, a newborn baby left alone in a car, an assault in progress, and a person who had been hit by a car.
The police will win this one. They have no obligation to protect anyone.
Oops, this is in Canada... maybe they do there??
This is why you don't give up the right to keep and bear arms, because your defense is ultimately up to you.
Restraining order and a gun beats a restraining order anytime...
The police will win this one. They have no obligation to protect anyone.
I know this is probably right...but with so many Police organizations calling for gun control and advocating "Just call 911" I submit they should be held responsible.
Derek Kinna needs to remember that dialing 911 is the government's sick perverted idea of "Dial A Prayer."
Is that true in the US? So "to protect and serve" is flase advertising?
False advertising?
How about "issuance of a false document" and failure to enforce same---Against THE JUDGE! Put their a$$$$ in jail for not performing...
911 ping!
"Derek Kinna said he wonders if his mother, Janice Louise Kinna, could have survived the stabbing injuries inflicted by her boyfriend two years ago if police hadn't taken more than half an hour to show up."
Most wounds heal on their own in two weeks, not two years. /sarc
"Is that true in the US? So "to protect and serve" is flase advertising?"
***
I believe there was that infamous case of several years ago where crime victims sued the Washington, DC police department for failing to stop a violent crime against them. The courts ruled against the victims and stated that the police only had a requirement to protect the public "at large" but no requirement to protect specific individuals.
For God's sake you hear someone pleading for help and a all you can do is dial the phone? You could of got a neighbor or two to assist, you could of called an ambulance directly.
The neighbor was a failure as a human.
The courts have ruled that the police don't have to show up, and have consistantly done so for a century and a half or so. The only thing along those lines they can be held liable for is differential response - i.e. not showing up to calls from women, or to calls from "black" areas.
I'll squeeze off a few shots from a 1911 before I dial 911.
Why not sue the neighbour for not ringing the police earlier? This is an example of litigation gone mad. Everyone wants to blame someone else rather than accepting responsibility.
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