(Montreal) A coroner’s inquest into the death of a man during a police intervention in Montreal five years ago opened Monday without members of his family participating.
Updated yesterday at 8:47 p.m.
Koray Kevin Celik, 28, was drunk and his parents wanted to stop him from driving when they called 911 for help shortly after 2 a.m. on March 6, 2017 , in the borough of L’Île-Bizard, in the west of Montreal.
The police officers who arrived on the scene tried to subdue Mr. Celik, in particular with a telescopic baton. But according to his parents, the officers used excessive force, repeatedly hitting their son with their feet and knees, before he stopped breathing.
The Bureau of Independent Investigations (BEI), the watchdog of the provincial police, looked into the matter. Following this investigation, four Montreal police officers were exonerated of any fault in the death of Mr. Celik.
Her father, Cesur Celik, told reporters Monday at the Montreal courthouse that the family would boycott the coroner’s inquest. Parents say they have lost confidence in the independence of the system, but also in various government institutions. The family considers the coroner’s inquest process to be unfair.
In front of the courtroom where the investigation is taking place, Cesur Celik, declared that he would not participate in a “circus act of a government” which, according to him, tries to mislead the public.
The parents of Koray Kevin Celik were to be the first witnesses at the public hearings of the coroner’s inquest, but they remained on their position Monday: they will not testify, despite the subpoena they received.
Cesur Celik said the coroner’s inquest is against family members since officers have no cap on legal fees to defend themselves, while the family is reimbursed a maximum of $20,000.
He said public hearings like this must be held under fair and equal conditions for the results to be valid and for his family to have “trust in government organizations.”
Coroner Luc Malouin told the inquest that given everything the parents have been through for five years, they will not be charged with contempt of court. But the coroner stressed that all their previous statements would be placed on file.
Two different versions of events
One of the four police officers who intervened the night of March 6, 2017 testified on Monday. Officer Alexandre Bélair told the inquest it took officers a while to find the house after they received a call for someone who was drunk and aggressive.
Mr. Bélair said he spoke outside the house with Cesur Celik, who told the officer that his son was inside, high and needed to come down. The father begged the officers not to enter the house.
Mr. Bélair said that when he received this information, his partner, Constable Karine Bujold, had already entered the house, and he heard a loud cry.
He said Koray Celik resisted and it took officers two pairs of handcuffs together to subdue him as his parents screamed in the background. Mr. Bélair said he stopped breathing soon after and they removed the handcuffs and began resuscitation.
Inquiry hearings also heard Monday from Luc Desroches, a BEI investigator, who said his investigation did not begin until just over seven hours after the 911 call.
Mr. Celik’s father said that the Montreal police questioned his family when this task should have fallen to the BEI. Mr. Desroches pointed out that the office had not been operational for very long when the Celik affair occurred.
In June 2021, a Quebec court awarded the family $30,000 in damages after suing the police watchdog. The civil case challenged an August 2018 statement from the BEI, which provided only the police officers’ version of events, alleging Mr. Celik acted aggressively. This version contradicts her parents’ account of what happened.
The court sided with the family, ruling that the watchdog’s statement was neither neutral nor impartial. The judgment underlined that it is not the role of the BEI to justify the actions of the police, but to carry out an independent investigation.
The Celik family is suing the City of Montreal and the Urgences-santé ambulance service separately for wrongful death.
Coroner’s inquest hearings are expected to last a total of three weeks, spread over the next few months. Coroner Malouin recalled that his role was not to determine whether there was guilt in this case, but rather to establish the facts and make recommendations.