A8 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 8, 1997 Court ruling delayed pursuit of Vermette TWO KITIMAT residents want to make it easier for police to pursue criminal suspects, Sandra Teves and Lori Fitzpatrick say a recent court decision forced police officers to wait for hours — and a search warrant — be- fore entering the motel raom of Kevin Vermette the night three Kilimal youth were shot ta death, The RCMP identified Vermette as a suspect short- ly after the July 12 shooting at Hirsch Creek Park which left Teves’ brother Mark, Michele Maure and David Nunes dead. Donny Oliveira, the only person to survive the attack, was one of-two witnesses to identify ‘Vermette and the sole direct witness of the event, Officers also quickly lo- cated the truck Vermetie was seen driving back at his residence, However more than cight hours passed before police entered the residence to find he wasn’t there. An ex- tensive search failed to tum up any sign of Vermette and he is still at large. Teves and Fitzpatrick don't fault the police but do blame part of that initial delay on the court decision, Because of the decision, known as R. v. Feeney, po- lice had to pause, put to- gether evidence and get a search warrant before going into Vermette’s: home, a room at the Kitimat Motel. In Feeney, police made a. warrantless entry to Michael Feency’s residence — near Likely B,C. and arrested him in relation to the mur- der of another man. — The court, in a narrow four to three decision, ruled the police didn’t have enough evidence to meel common law tests outlining when they can act without a warrant and violated Feeney's Charter of Rights and Freedom’s right to privacy and security of the: home. The court went further and . said police shouldn't be al- lowed to make any warrant- less entries or arrests, unless they’re in hot pursuit of a suspect or the siluation is urgeiil. “The system does not work, it protects criminais not victims, aud suspects tights over sociely at large,”’ said Teves of the court decision. In the case of the Kitimat murders, Teves said the de- cision diverted police atten- tion that might. have been directed to searching for | Vermetle if they’d found out . sooner that he wasn’t in the room, , “If the Feeney decision _ wasn’t there I can’t say (Vermette) would have been caught, it’s just the fact they had to use investipative manpower, they: had to have officers typing up informa- tion on the evidence they had,’’ Teves noted, to get the warrant. What's more, Fitzpatrick said, the community’s Charter rights to security were compromised because police bad to think about Venmette’s privacy rights. The pair are turning to Parliament and are asking .law makers to clear up the chaos created by the Feeney ruling. They’ve sent letters to a -String of politicians, includ-. ‘ing Prime Minister Jean Chretien, federal justice Boom remains mystery spheric disturbance? Take your pick. Both have been offered By DAVID TAYLOR GOVERNMENT conspiracy or rare atmo- been any of their aircraft, ‘Nothing here breaks the sound barrier,”’ he says. “So it certainly wasn’t one of ours.” Kevin Vermetis - minister Anne McLelland as well as the justice critics of the other federal parties and Skeena MP Mike Scott. A petition will follow. Kitimat RCMP. Staff Set. Greg Funk said the Feeney decision did affect their ac- tions but it is difficult to say how much, Obtaining a warrant did take some hours in the time following the murders, but so did a lot of other things. He noted officers were aware of the Feeney deci- sion, and weren’t in fresh pursuit of Vermette when they found his vehicles _ parked al his residence. “We would have made entry into the residence ear- lier, if not for (the Feeney decision) but it would have been a matter of hours,”’ Funk said. Vermette was the suspect in a triple, almost quadruple murder, he noted, for safety’s sake police waited until they had an Emergency ~ seen” RCMP on alert RCMP THINK murder suspect Kevin Vermette could be living in the Smit- thers area by stealing food from cabins. They're asking = cabin owners who suspect that food is missing to contact them. Police recently reccived a tip thal a man matching Vermette’s description was walking “on ~~ the McDonnell Lake Road, off the ski hill ‘road © behind Hudson Bay Mountain out- side of Smithers: That’s led police to search ~ the area and put out a public advisory. Constable Scott White of the RCMP’s — Serious Crimes Unit in Prince Rupert says there’s a chance the fugitive is hiding out _and breaking into cabins in the area for supplies. ‘We're appealing to the public to be mindful of the fact he’s (Vermeite) familiar with this area,”’? White said, “If litle. things go miss- ing, they should contact the RCMP.” Supplies include food, back packs, tools, ammuni- tion, he. said, ‘anything you'd need to go on a camp- ing trip.”’ White said Vermette has a history of taking what he ‘ needs from wherever he finds it. “Check your belongings and make sure everything is the way it should be.” Any cabin within about 10 James \ a5 W. . Radelet _ RADELET & COMPANY | Barristers & Soli itor Tax Law* Trusts * Corporate & Commercial 1990 - 1075 West Geargia Street, Vancouver, B,C, VEE 3C9 Fax: 604-889-1388 Phone:.604-689-0878 BRB RER REE R RHR RA Got Questions. .. about the proposed Amalgamation? Regional District and City of Terrace repre: s sentatives will be available to answer your § questions about the proposed municipal re- = structure at drop-in open houses and pubic ¥ exhibits at the following locations and times. » Referendum day is Saturday, October 18. Thornhill Community Hall 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Tuesday, October 14 Skeena Mall 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Friday, October 10 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Saturday, October 711 North Terraca ohpersice LJ “3 é , Z ue ey Kitsumkalum 37.7 nay, a eee For more information contact: as explanations for that loud boom thal Craden says that the only Canadian mili- kilometres of the McDon- shook houses and raitled windows Sept, 25, Terrace RCMP have requested the pub- lic’s help in finding out what the noise was, but so far without luck, tary craft capable of breaking the speed of sound are the F-18s based in Quebec and Cold Lake, Alberta. The Cold Lake F-18s make occasional training trips to Comox, Response Team in place. Police also had officers ” tied up gathering evidence and controlling the murder scene, and with the victim nell Lake Road is within, “easy reach, he advised. In - particular, Hudson Bay Mountain has more than 100 Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine 615-6100 or the City of Terrace 635-637 1 No fires or explosions were reported to the Terrace fire department. No smoke or dust clouds were reported either. And the boom was heard consistently over a jarge area, from Thorhill to the horseshoe aud the Terrace bench. These facis have lead many people to suggest the sound came from the sky. “It’s possible that it could have been a ‘meteor,’? says local astronomer Brian McNair, ‘But I doubt it.” . MeNair says thal for a meteorite to have caused the boom, it would have had to ex- plode in the air at a fairly low altitude. And he says such occurrences are very rare. Others have suggested the sound was a sonic boom caused by a military jet break- ing the sound barrier. But no military planes called the flight services station - here, and nothing landed after 10 p.m. The nearest Canadian military base with fighter planes is in Comox, on Vancouver Island. But base public affairs officer Cap- tain David Craden says it couldn’t have but none have done so lately, Craden also says it’s unusual for the fighters to fly at hypersonic speeds. “Iv’s not often done,’? he says. ‘*You really have to try ta break the sound barrier. It’s pretty uncommon,”’ Craden says the boom that shook the city sounds to him tike it was a sonic boom, But. - for that to occur over Terrace at 10:40 at night is ‘‘really odd’’. ; ; The nearest U.S. Air Force bases to Ter- a se race are in Tacoma and Alaska. Craden says it could have been an American jet, but that would have been unlikely and il- legal. “The U.S. has lots of empty space to test their aircraft,’ he says. “They aren’{ going — “to test their planes over populated Canadian areas.”” - A call to the wing operations centre at CFB Cold Lake to see if Canadian F-18s were in the area resulted in the blunt slate- ment, ‘I have no idea. We don’ t ive out thal kind of information.’’ who survived the attack. TRmOUOREDEORORO OME U SERRE REESE SE FT One Goal - No Compromises ‘The factory engineers had a mission; ta creale the ultimate sled...period, No compromise, Not build a great trail sled with : me, OW power, oF one that pulls like a bear, but rides like a bull, = ENR One vision - power, handling, acceleration, performance, Hight weight and beauty. The ultimate machine. The result... the atm stretching in your | ‘face, bump {> absorbing, light siccring, sexy: ‘SRX'600 and SRX 700 triple-triples. 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