Mistaken Identity

Yaowei Wu, a resident of Vancouver, was treated at Vancouver General Hospital for bruises to his head, waist and knees, and fractured bones around his left eye. He was clearly the victim of a vicious beating. The misfortune of being in the right place - his own home, at the wrong time - when police were responding to a call of domestic violence, gave him the opportunity to find out first hand how negatively such behaviour is regarded by police.

In an obvious lesson to malefactors that they need not apply brute strength when strenuously attempting to make a domestic point, Vancouver police appear to use brute strength to demonstrate to those suspected of spousal abuse just how painful that can be. It's a fairly basic lesson, one loosely associated with gangsters and vengeance and illegal acts that would land anyone who practises them a lengthy jail term.

Mr. Wu was rewarded for his ordeal by a repentant visit from Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu who wished to personally apologize to the unfortunate victim, and to promise that a thorough investigation would ensue. The Vancouver Police Department's Professional Standards Section has been called upon to conduct an investigation. Um, police investigating themselves.

It would appear that police sped out to Mr. Wu's home after receiving a 911 call at 2 a.m. from a frantic woman reporting her drunken husband was abusing her and she was worried for the safety of her child. Unfortunately, the caller was a tenant living on the ground floor, and Mr. Wu's residence was on the upper floor of the house. Which was where they headed.

"The cops didn't ask clearly - not even ID me or anything - before they started beating me", Mr. Wu explained. "I think they have an attitude problem." Clearly. Before permitting him to politely, helpfully, enquire the reason for their presence, the responding officers simply dragged Mr. Wu outside where they proceeded to beat him.

Later txhat day, a Vancouver Police spokesperson explained to enquirers that Mr. Wu had "resisted by striking out at the police and trying to slam the door, but the officers persisted in the belief that there may be a woman and child inside who could be in danger." Sounds convincing. Kind of. Days later, at a news conference, police admitted that Mr. Wu hadn't resisted at all.

When Mr. Wu's wife told the officers she was alerting the police they identified themselves to her. When three other police officers arrived, one who spoke Cantonese explained to the couple that this had been the unfortunate result of an unfortunate instance of mistaken identity.

Leading to the actual commission of a crime.