Montreal police were ill-prepared prior to fatal altercation with Île Bizard man, coroner says

Poor planning and execution on the part of Montreal police officers played a "determining role" in the death of a 28-year-old man in the West Island, according to a coroner's report.

Koray Celik died following an altercation with four police officers at his parents' home in Île Bizard on March 6, 2017.

His parents called 911 because he had consumed alcohol along with pain pills prescribed to him and was intent on taking the wheel. 

Shortly after arriving, one of the officers, Karine Bujold, followed the mother down a dimly lit hallway that led to the room where her son was — a move the coroner found questionable.

According to the report, Celik told the officer to shut off her flashlight. When the officer refused, there was a verbal altercation. As Celik approached the officer, she began to fear for her safety.

That's when she struck the 28-year-old in the left thigh with her baton, though Celik didn't budge. Three other officers stepped in and Celik was tackled to the ground.

The Celiks have maintained that officers used excessive force on their son, saying they watched as he was kicked, choked and beaten with batons until he stopped breathing.

The 28-year-old was pronounced dead in hospital about three hours later.

The final autopsy report indicates Celik died of cardio-respiratory arrest caused by intoxication.

But Dr. Yann Dazé, the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy on Celik, told the coroner's inquiry last fall that the "cocktail" of drugs and alcohol likely would not have been lethal if Celik hadn't been in an agitated state.

In his report released Friday, coroner Luc Malouin said officers "missed at least two occasions" to get information that could've significantly altered the chain of events that followed. He also said they could have benefited from information that the 911 dispatcher failed to provide them.

According to the coroner, parents were calm when police showed up.

Malouin wrote that the officer, prior to approaching the 28-year-old man, could have asked questions and realized that he did not have his parents' car keys and therefore could not leave, the three were the only ones in the home and the parents were expecting paramedics to show up, not police.

Malouin said "with this information, the analysis and the urgency of the situation changes completely."

"Bujold could have waited for her colleagues' arrival and, together, with the parents' co-operation, they could've calmly made a plan to de-escalate," the coroner wrote. 

"By doing it the way she did, alone with Mr. Celik, she put her life in danger and ultimately provoked a chain of events with the result that we now know."

In his report, the coroner issued a single recommendation.

He said Montreal police's 911 service and Quebec's police academy should explore the possibility of implementing a communications process to better assist officers during calls, most notably those that involve people in some form of mental distress.

The Celiks were originally scheduled to speak at the inquiry last fall but ultimately refused because they had lost faith in the judicial process that, according to them, aims to protect police.

Groups call for review of DPCP decision

Lynda Khelil, a spokesperson for the Ligue des droits et libertés (LDL), a Quebec civil rights group, said in a statement it is "imperative" that the Quebec government appoint a special independent committee to review the Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales (DPCP) decision about the case. 

The DPCP found in May 2019 that officers made no criminal offence during the intervention. 

The LDL statement also said it is necessary to use Bill 14 as an opportunity to reform the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes — Quebec's police watchdog — because "it is not currently an independent body from the police community." 

Alexandre Popovic, a spokesperson for the Coalition Against Police Repression and Police Abuse, said the coroner's findings align with the police ethics committee's order in 2020 to cite the four officers involved for using excessive force.  

As a participant in the coroner's inquiry, Popovic said he suggested a recommendation for future police training to emphasize the contributions a relative of a person in distress can make in resolving a crisis. 

"The police officers just ignored the parents," he said. "It was a big mistake because it was the parents that managed to calm their son before the arrival of the police. It's obviously the parents who know more than anyone Koray Celik and how to handle him in this situation." 

Fo Niemi, the executive director of the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations, said given how often the use of excessive force has led to fatalities, it is important to continue assessing the effectiveness of police de-escalation tactics and improve training to "ensure it has its desired effects." 

"Police departments in Quebec should come up with a comprehensive plan of action to address mental health needs and situations involving people in mental health crises," he said.  

Montreal police declined to comment on the report, since the matter is before the courts. In 2020, the family filed a lawsuit against the City of Montreal and Urgences-santé.