On the eve of the start of hearings before the police ethics tribunal, the family of Koray Kevin Celik, who died in 2017 during a forceful police intervention, once again requested, on Monday, the intervention of the Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette. They want the evidence that led to the decision of the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) not to lay criminal charges against the police officers to be re-examined. They are demanding that the minister establish an independent committee to re-examine the case.
On March 6, 2017, Koray Kevin Celik’s parents called 911 after they couldn’t convince their son, who had been drinking alcohol and taking a prescribed painkiller, not to drive to get some sleep medication.
The police intervention that took place at the Celik home in L’Île-Bizard degenerated and the officers tackled the 28-year-old man to the ground before realizing that he was no longer breathing. He was later pronounced dead.
“The police were called to help Koray, but they killed him instead of helping him,” his father, Cesur Celik, said Monday at a news conference with his wife, June Tyler.
By the time police arrived, Koray Kevin Celik, a medical student, had calmed down and was sitting up in bed, his father reiterated Monday. However, the 28-year-old asked the first female officer who arrived at the residence to turn off her flashlight, which she allegedly refused to do. After a verbal exchange, the officer reportedly feared for his life and her colleagues who joined her pinned the young man to the ground in an intervention that led to his death.
Questioning the EIB’s conclusion
In a judgment rendered in July 2021, the Court of Quebec blamed the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes (BEI) for being biased in the press release issued at the end of the investigation by presenting only the police version. The Court of Appeal came to the same conclusion last year.
It was in light of this BEI investigation that the DPCP decided not to file charges against the police officers.
For his part, coroner Luc Malouin, in his report made public in 2023, concluded that the SPVM officers had not acted “in accordance with the basic principles of good police intervention.” Police officers can use force when their lives are in danger, but in this case, the coroner stressed, they had put themselves in danger.
Last year, the Celik family contacted Minister Jolin-Barrette, then the DPCP, to obtain a review of the file, but in vain. With the support of the Ligue des droits et libertés (LDL) and the Coalition contre la répression et les abus policiers (CRAP), they therefore reiterated their request to the minister on Monday.
“The next step is political,” said François Mainguy, who represents the family. “We are not asking that the police officers be thrown in prison, but that someone, independent of the DPCP and the BEI, re-examine the evidence and determine whether or not charges should be filed.”
Me Mainguy mentioned the case of Nicholas Thorne-Belance, five years old, killed in a collision with a police car that was taking part in a surveillance operation in February 2014. Initially, the DPCP had decided not to lay charges against police officer Patrick Ouellet. But in light of new evidence, the Minister of Justice at the time, Stéphanie Vallée, had finally ordered a new investigation that led to charges being laid against the officer and a trial being held.
“It is undeniable that Koray Kevin Celik was the victim of police brutality and that the BEI investigation process and the DPCP decision-making process were not impartial. This should greatly concern Minister Jolin-Barrette,” said Lynda Khelil, spokesperson for the Ligue des droits et libertés.