The mother of a girl involved in an alleged assault near Citadel middle school is criticizing the Coquitlam RCMP’s handling of the investigation.
The woman, a biological aunt who raised the child and is referred to as her mother, told The Tri-City News she resented her daughter being portrayed as an aggressor. She added that during an initial interview with police, she was pressured into entering the girl into a restorative justice program or face legal action.
“If I don’t, [the officer] said he will be charging my daughter as well,” said the mother, who is not being named by The Tri-City News in order to avoid identifying the children involved. “He said he would have to arrest and charge my daughter for two counts of assault.”
The incident occurred on the grounds of Citadel middle shortly after school ended Jan. 10. Police said in a statement last week that they believe a verbal confrontation occurred between a group of four boys and one girl, and the girl responded with a “low level of physical force.”
“At that time, a 13-year-old Maple Ridge boy is alleged to have used an inappropriate level of force that caused an injury to the girl,” the statement said.
The girl was sent to the hospital with bruises around her eye and the 13-year-old boy is potentially facing criminal charges.
But when police initially interviewed the girl — nine days after the incident — the girl’s mother said she and her daughter were misled by an officer about the contents of a video of the altercation taken by one of the boys who was present.
In recordings of the interactions with police that were provided to The Tri-City News, an officer can be heard saying the 13-second video clip showed the daughter pushing and punching one boy and punching a second boy.
But the same officer later admitted during a another meeting with the family that he had not seen the video but it had been described to him by another investigator.
The mother has since viewed the video clip — The Tri-City News has not — and claims it is at odds with the initial description given to her by police. She admits the video shows her daughter pushing one boy after he got in her face but said at no point does her daughter punch anyone.
“I think it is important,” she said. “I think it is really crappy that the police lied about the evidence they had.”
After the initial push, she said the video shows a second boy coming from behind, spraying her daughter in the face with Febreze, punching her and falling to the ground on top of her. A few seconds later, the girl can be seen getting up and staggering before leaving the scene, according to the mom’s account.
The mother said she is happy with how the police and the school are handling the situation now that the incident has garnered media attention but said the officers should have handled the case differently from the beginning.
“They really tried to sweep it under the rug,” she told The Tri-City News. “That is where they went wrong.”
Coquitlam RCMP Cpl. Michael McLaughlin said Wednesday police would not be commenting on officer conduct but noted that the investigation is incomplete. He added police have been in touch with the family and are trying to resolve any concerns they have over the alleged assault.
“We stand by everything we have released in the news release and that we have spoken to publicly,” he said. “But there are many details that we still need to confirm and fact check. Until we have all the evidence, we are not going to reach any conclusions.”
He added that there is a process members of the public can enter if they have an issue with police conduct. “If there are complaints, address those through the proper channels,” McLaughlin said, “not through social media or the mainstream media.”
Last week, School District 43 acknowledged it is aware of the incident and is cooperating with the RCMP but wouldn’t be providing any further information.
In an email to The Tri-City News, district spokesperson Ken Hoff said SD43 “takes this matter very seriously and is addressing the situation.”
He added that because the incident involves an RCMP investigation and the privacy of young children, “the school district is unable to provide further comment.”
Meanwhile, an online petition has been launched at change.org asking to “hold the RCMP and Citadel school accountable” for the incident. It had more than 1,650 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon.
