MONTREAL — The family of a Quebec man killed by Montreal police in 2017 called on the province's justice minister on Monday for a new, independent examination of the evidence in the case, and a review of the Crown's decision not to charge the officers involved.
However, later in the day, the prosecutor's office seemed to reject the families pleas, as it had done privately earlier this year.
The parents of Koray Kevin Celik, a 28-year-old medical student, held a news conference Monday alongside a civil rights group and anti-police-brutality activists, a day before a provincial ethics hearing was set to begin for the Montreal officers involved in the fatal altercation.
François Mainguy, a lawyer for Celik's parents, said his clients want the province to set up "an independent committee" to re-examine the evidence in the case and "reconsider the opportunity to lay criminal charges against the police officers."
On March 6, 2017, Celik's parents — June Tyler and Cesur Celik — called police to their home in western Montreal because they were worried he would drive while intoxicated. Celik had consumed pain medication prescribed by his dentist and had drunk alcohol.
Cesur Celik told reporters Monday that his son had been in crisis that day and had wanted to leave the house to get sleep medication ahead of a medical school exam.
Celik was unarmed, in his bedroom and had calmed down when the police arrived. An officer immediately went into the room to confront him, leading to an altercation. Four police officers tried to subdue Celik with force, and his parents say they witnessed officers repeatedly beat their son with their feet and knees before he stopped breathing and was in cardiorespiratory arrest.
He was pronounced dead in hospital.
In April 2019, the Crown declined to lay charges against the officers, based on an investigation by Quebec's police watchdog, Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes, or BEI.
A coroner's report from April 2023 found that officers had "provoked" the violent altercation between themselves and Celik, and that they were unprepared when they showed up at the family home. The coroner said had police planned their intervention better and collected all the relevant information about what was happening in the Celik household, “the outcome could have been quite different.”
All four responding officers testified during the coroner's inquest that they had feared for their lives during the intervention.
The office of Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette referred questions to the Crown prosecutor's office, known as the Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales, or DPCP. A spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office said the department had already thoroughly reviewed the file, including the coroner's findings, which were made public last year.
"The review of the investigation report prepared by the BEI in connection with the event surrounding Mr. Celik's death was entrusted to a committee composed of three prosecutors, the latter conducted a complete and objective review of the evidence in order to assess whether it reveals the commission of criminal offences," Annabelle Sheppard said in an emailed statement.
"In light of the evidence analyzed and the applicable legal principles, the committee concluded that no prosecution would be brought."
Sheppard said the prosecutor's office also attended the coroner's inquiry and reviewed evidence presented during the hearings.
"It appears that the inquest did not highlight any new facts likely to change the analysis made by the committee of three prosecutors and call into question the decision not to lay criminal charges," Sheppard wrote.
The family continues to denounce the investigation by the province's police watchdog and the decision by prosecutors.
A Quebec court ruling sided with the family — that the watchdog had committed a fault by issuing a news release that only gave the police officers' version of events. The judgment noted that the media release was neither neutral nor impartial, and that it's not the agency’s role to justify police actions but to conduct an independent investigation.
The ruling was upheld on appeal at the end of last year.
In a letter to the justice minister dated from March 2024, Celik's parents say the Court of Appeal made it clear that the BEI prevented prosecutors from adequately playing their role in determining whether criminal charges should be laid, "which is why it is essential that the evidence relating to Koray's death be re-examined by independent prosecutors."
The letter notes the BEI investigation didn't accept the version of events of Celik's parents, who were eyewitnesses to what happened.
"It's been more than seven years that we are pursuing," Cesur Celik said. "And we will not go away, I promise you that."
During the news conference, Mainguy noted there is a precedent for re-examining cases in which officers who kill are cleared of wrongdoing. In February 2014, five-year-old Nicolas Thorne-Belance was in a vehicle that was struck by an unmarked police cruiser. The boy died in hospital a few days later.
Prosecutors initially decided against charging the officer who had been driving the cruiser, but new testimony led the Liberal justice minister at the time to request an independent assessment of the evidence. That examination resulted in the officer, Patrick Ouellet, being charged and found guilty on one count of dangerous driving causing death.
The Celiks are also suing the City of Montreal and the Urgences-santé ambulance service, in a case that is still making its away through the courts.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2024.
Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press
