Funny News Interview Guy Arrested in Back of Cop Car Why You Got Hair
'It's maddening': Police still haven't interviewed cabbie hurt in takedown of terror suspect Aaron Driver
The lawyer for Terry Duffield and the former head of Ontario's police watchdog agency said it doesn't make sense the only civilian witness at the scene hasn't been contacted
LONDON, Ont. — Two months after an explosion in a Strathroy cab, police investigating the fatal RCMP takedown and shooting of terror suspect Aaron Driver haven't interviewed the now-unemployed taxi driver about what he saw that day.
While the OPP refuse to answer questions about the status or nature of their investigation, the lawyer for Terry Duffield and the former head of Ontario's police watchdog agency said it doesn't make sense the only civilian witness at the scene hasn't been contacted.
The ISIL sympathizer was shot by the RCMP during the standoff, following the blast in the cab.
In August, with a forensic probe still underway, a senior Mountie said police believed the blast was caused by detonators for a bomb Driver brought on board, but the more powerful explosives never ignited.
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Aaron Driver's 'more powerful' bomb never exploded, RCMP says, revealing new details of tense confrontation
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'He was checking out that day one way or the other': Aaron Driver left note to his family, father says
Few details have emerged since then into the Aug. 10 standoff, leaving the man who survived the blast in the cab's front seat — and his lawyer — asking questions.
"It's beginning to look like the police aren't interested in the investigation," London lawyer Kevin Egan, who represents Duffield, said Tuesday. "It seems like a funny investigation if they don't contact the only civilian witness.
"If they are investigating the conduct of police that led to an individual's death and the injury of a bystander, they should speak to the person involved, while it's still fresh in their mind.
"A man was killed. When somebody is shot by the police, there ought to be an investigation regardless of the evil intent of the individual."
Duffield said the explosion has forced him onto painkillers for a sore and stiff back and medications for anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. He said he hasn't been able to return to driving a cab since the dramatics occurred moments after he arrived to pick up what he thought was a routine fare.
Duffield was oblivious to the fact that his passenger-to-be was under police surveillance and had created a threatening martyrdom video spotted by the FBI, which tipped off Canadian authorities.
"I'm concerned, disappointed," said Egan. "(Duffield) is a victim and has suffered some significant trauma and it kind of exacerbates it when the authorities turn their back on him."
The gap in information has once again raised questions about whether the OPP can properly investigate circumstances, when their own officers were at the scene of the takedown, along with RCMP and Strathroy-Caradoc police officers.
In Ontario, police actions that result in civilian injury or death are investigated by the independent Special Investigations Unit (SIU), but the RCMP is a federal force and not under the SIU's watch.
Strathroy-Caradoc police were responsible for investigating Driver's death, but asked the OPP to help. It isn't clear whether that includes a review of decisions made about when and where to close in on the 24-year-old extremist, whom the RCMP believed to be planning an "imminent" attack on an urban centre.
Shortly after the takedown, the OPP confirmed Driver's cause of death was a gunshot wound, but have released nothing since.
The time lag has left the former head of the SIU shaking his head.
"It's standard investigative procedure that the sooner you speak to eyewitnesses the more reliable the information is going to be," said Ian Scott, who now teaches courses including policing accountability at Western University. "Two months is a long time.
"I don't know why you wouldn't have interviewed the cab driver in the car at the critical moment. The first thing you want to do is interview the eyewitnesses and of real interest are the civilian witnesses. … And he's obviously a very, very important witness," Scott said of Duffield. "I wouldn't have thought it would be an overly difficult investigation."
But Scott pointed out the objective of the OPP investigation hasn't been made clear.
"What are they investigating and for what purpose?"
Questions about the investigation were referred to OPP Det. Supt. Dave Truax, who declined to comment on Duffield's complaint that he hasn't been contacted about the investigation.
"The male died following an interaction with police. The circumstances surrounding his death are the subject of the OPP (Criminal Investigations Branch) investigation," he said in an email.
"I am not at liberty to discuss who has been interviewed, nor who has not been interviewed in an ongoing investigation," Truax said during another email exchange Tuesday.
Though the RCMP is the lead agency on the terrorism investigation surrounding Driver, the OPP is investigating the immediate circumstances around his death, he said.
"The investigation into the death of Aaron Driver, involving one or more members of the RCMP, is ongoing," Truax said in an email. "I am unable to speculate when the investigation will be completed," he said, adding the OPP would prepare a report for Strathroy-Caradoc police after a "complete and thorough" investigation.
"How can the OPP investigate a situation that they were involved in?" asked Duffield. "They should've already contacted me."
He said the situation has changed his life for the worse and left him struggling to make ends meet.
Contacted by phone Tuesday, he had to return a call because he was dropping off job applications.
Duffield said he tried to drive his cab two days after the explosion and shooting, but was filled with anxiety. Although he's been seeing a counsellor twice weekly, he said he hasn't been able to return.
Unable to access employment insurance or financial help from Ontario's Workplace Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) so far, he said he's now on welfare and about to lose his vehicle because he can't afford the payments.
A week after the takedown, Duffield's friend started an online fundraiser for him and raised $1,040 in donations, he said. Police did contact him around that time, but only to ask him to sign a waiver agreeing they could see his medical records, something he deferred to Egan.
"It's maddening," said Duffield, who has accused police of putting his life in jeopardy by failing to warn him before he arrived to pick up Driver that day.
"I didn't ask to be put into the situation."
Source: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/its-maddening-police-still-havent-interviewed-cabbie-hurt-in-takedown-of-terror-suspect-aaron-driver
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