Crying officer takes full responsibility

'Mr. Paul was drunk and he died and I put him in that lane,' apologetic Vancouver cop tells inquiry
Gerry Bellett, Vancouver Sun
Published: Saturday, January 12, 2008

The Vancouver police officer who left Frank Paul in a Downtown Eastside alley, where he died of exposure on a cold and wet December night nine years ago, wept Friday when recounting his actions that evening.

Const. David Instant accepted full responsibility for his part in Paul's death when he testified at the provincial inquiry investigating the circumstances that led to the man's death.

His contrition was in stark contrast to the demeanour of former sergeant Russell Sanderson, who earlier this week refused to offer any apology to Paul's family for decisions made on the night of Dec. 5, 1998, which led to Paul -- a homeless man who was heavily intoxicated -- being refused entry to the city jail and sent off to die on the street.

Inquiry counsel Geoffrey Cowper asked Instant if he had breached his duty as a police officer that night.

"Yes," said Instant.

"And you breached your duty to another human being that evening?"

"Yes," said the officer.

Instant's testimony supplied the final details of the fatal decisions made that night by Vancouver police officers who deal daily with the problems of homelessness and chronic alcoholism in the Downtown Eastside.

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