Force used to subdue le Bizard man during fatal police intervention was reasonable, officer tells inquiry

One of four Montreal police officers involved in a fatal altercation says the force usedto subdue Koray Celikwas reasonable, after the young manlunged at his partner and was unco-operative when police intervened.

Celik, 28, died after police were called to hisfamilyhome in le Bizard in 2017. His parents, who called 911 and witnessed the event, have maintained that the four officers who responded used excessive force.

When Service de Police de la Ville de Montral officers arrived, the Celiks say they watched as their son was kicked, choked and beaten with batons until his breathing stopped.

Alexandre Blair, one of the first officers to arrive at the scene that night, gave his version of events during the first day of the coroner's public inquiry into Celik'sdeath Monday afternoon.

Blairsaid he and his partner,Karine Bujold, were the first patrolto arrive on the scene. They were calledto assist another car on the way to the Celikhome following a 911 call saying someone inside the house was intoxicated, aggressiveand wanted to get behind the wheel.

Upon arrival, Blair testified that he saw Celik'smother waving to them from outside the home. He said he briefly spoke with thefather in his garage who, he said, told him, "my son is high, he needs to calm down, please don't enter."

That's when Blair said he heard a loud scream from inside the house. He said he entered and saw Celikand his partnerabout one metre's distance from each other.

Blair said Celikshowed signs of aggression, that his hands were balled into fists and pointed downward, that he was shifting his eyes left and right and that he did notreact when Blairannounced that he was an officer.

Blair said at one point, Celikraisedhis fists in front of his face,likea boxer,then rapidly lowered them and lunged at his partner. That's when Blair said the officers including thosewhom he did not know were inside the house tackled Celik.

Blair testified Celikkept resisting as Blairtried to put his arm behind his back and attempting to get up. The officersaid he spoke English when he told Celikto co-operate.

Alexandre Popovic the lawyer representing an anti-police-brutality organization, the Coalition contre la rpression et les abus policiers (CRAP) asked whether Blair ever hit Celikand the officerresponded no.

When asked if otherofficers hit Celik while he was on the ground,Blair said the manwas given adiversionary strike a technique police use to divert a suspect's attention from their primary point of attack.Blairsaid he couldn't say how many strikes the young manreceivedas he was focused on getting his armbehind his back.

Eventually, it took two pairs of handcuffs to restrain Celikas police couldn't get his hands close enough together.

Shortly after, Blair said he noticed the young manwas having trouble breathing and he called for an ambulance. He saidofficers performed CPR on Celik and used a defibrillator, but the manwas unresponsive and was taken away in an ambulance.

Asked whether Blair would do anything differently during the intervention, hecharacterized the police's use of force as reasonable and the minimum force necessary.

Officers not isolated after incident

Luc Desroches, an investigator with the watchdog, the Bureau des enqutes indpendantes (BEI), also testified at theinquiry. Desrochessupervisedthe investigation into the incident.

According to Desroches, BEI investigators arrived at the Celik home at 9:30 a.m., more thanseven hours after Montreal police were first called to the scene, at 2:05 a.m.

The BEIwasn't even notified until about three and a half hours after the incident, Desroches confirmed.

Popovic,the lawyer, asked Desroches what had been done to ensure the officers involved didn't discuss the incident amongst themselves before the BEI arrived.

Under questioning, Desroches said the BEI did not verify the phone records from the officers involved. The BEI also didn't access audio recordings from inside the police vehicles.

Koray's father, Cesur Celik, raised concerns about what the officers could have been doing during that time.

"This would potentially allow them the opportunity to meet and concoct a story, develop a story, for their own vindication," he said, speaking outside the courthouse on Monday.

Desroches said the BEIhad been operating for justsix monthsat the time, and police forces were still unfamiliar with the proper procedures to follow.

The BEI's investigation later concluded that officers had used reasonable force and that Celik's death was attributable to cardio-respiratory arrest caused by intoxication.

A Quebec civil court judge later found the BEI was neither impartial nor transparent in the case. The Celik family was awarded $30,000 in damages.

Parents will not testify

The Celiks were scheduled to take the stand Mondaybut ultimately refused to testify despite beingsubpoenaed twice.Instead, deputy chief coroner Luc Malouin said their written accounts of the event were submitted to the inquiry.

Malouin said that considering what the family has been through over the past five years, this is the "wisest and most humane" way to proceed, "under the circumstances."

"I don't want to make the parents relive this moment," said Malouin. "We have enough declarations from them ... the decision to not go further with the parents is strictly a humane one."

But Cesur Celiksaid he and his wife's refusal to participate in the inquiry is not based on emotions buton their loss of faith in a judicial process that,according to them, serves to protect police.

"We my wife and Ideclared that we would not participate in a circus act of a government who is simply trying to pull wool over the eyes of the public by trying to appear we live in a just society, while denying us just treatment," he said.

In a lengthy interview with journalists Monday, Cesur Celikdenounced several stages of the investigation that he said were far from independent or were unfair, including officers not being isolated following the death of his son as well as the BEI issuing news releases"that destroyed the dignity of our son and caused us damages."

We would not participate in a circus act of a government who is simply trying to pull wool over the eyes of the public by trying to appear we live in a just society while denying us just treatment- Cesur Celik, Koray's father

Cesur Celik also said the financial assistanceoffered to his family for the purpose of the coroner's inquest, compared to what officers are entitled to, is an indicator of the government's intent to "[tilt]the scales of justice in police's favour."

He said his family will be compensated a maximum and conditional sum of $20,000 an amount the fathersaid won't even begin to cover the legal fees associated withan inquiry that will last three weeks.

On the other hand, he said officers get "unlimited and unconditional support."

"We do not intend toco-operate until we are provided with proper, fair and equal[ly]funded process," he said.

In previous interviews with CBC News, Celik and his wife, June, said they called police because their sonhadconsumed alcohol that night, along withpain pills prescribed to him for a recent dental procedure.They were worried he might want to drive and they wanted help.

"Those police officers gave alife sentence to our son. They killed him.What was the crime? Ask yourselves, what was the crime? There was no crime.He needed help. He was killed," Cesur Celik said.

In 2020, the family filed a $558,000 lawsuit against the City of Montreal and Urgences-Sant.

The inquiry is scheduled to continue through to early December.