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Vancouver Riot Charges

February 18, 2012 by · Comments Off on Vancouver Riot Charges 

Vancouver Riot Charges, The Vancouver police have identified 25 additional suspects in their investigation into last year’s Stanley Cup riot, while defending the pace of an investigation that has yet to result in a sentence against a single rioter.

The force also used an announcement Monday to appeal for information about the assault of an officer who was hit in the head with a brick during the June 15 melee last year, which followed the Vancouver Canucks’ loss to the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup final.

Insp. Les Yeo said investigators sent another batch of files to the Crown, asking that 70 charges be approved against 25 people. That brings the total number of suspects to 125.

However, the Crown has so far only approved charges against 47 people who together are accused of 129 offences including participating in a riot, assault and break-and-enter.

Vancouver police have faced criticism over the speed of the investigation almost since the riot, but the force has repeatedly insisted it takes time to prepare strong cases that will result in convictions, particularly because of the massive amount of photo and video evidence.

Yeo repeated that point.

“I’m ecstatic about the progress of the investigation,” told a news conference.

“It’s going as well as can be expected. With the amount of video we had, we made a promise that we were going to roll these charges out quickly after we processed the video, and we’re doing exactly that.”

So far, only one person has pleaded guilty to participating in the riot. Ryan Dickinson, 20, is scheduled to appear for a sentencing hearing on Tuesday.

Another accused rioter, former beauty queen Sophie Laboissonniere, 20, has indicated through her lawyer that she, too, intends to plead guilty.

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