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Bennis family might sue police

Shot by Montreal cop in 2005 Let's see police and coroner's reports: lawyer

by Anne Sutherland
Source: Montreal Gazette May 15, 2008

After 30 months of silence from both the provincial justice minister the police, the family of Mohamed Anas Bennis is considering filing a civil lawsuit against the police and the city of Montreal, claiming the young man suffered a wrongful death.

A public inquiry to determine whether there are grounds for a civil suit must be initiated within three years of the incident, which occurred Dec. 1, 2005.

"The only way to get answers is through a public inquiry. Justice behind closed doors is not justice," Alain Arsenault, the family's lawyer, said yesterday.

Bennis, 25, was shot to death by a Montreal police officer on Dec. 1 at the corner of Kent Ave. and Côte des Neiges Rd.

He was returning from morning prayers at a mosque two blocks from his apartment when, according to a police statement, he allegedly attacked a Montreal police officer on the sidewalk and stabbed the man in the neck and leg with a knife.

Police were in the area helping the Sûrété du Québec in a fraud bust. Bennis was shot twice and died from his wounds.

After months of waiting for details about the shooting, the Bennis family got a verbal autopsy report that said Bennis died of a bullet to the heart. The ballistics report stated the bullets entered the body in a downward direction.

But Arsenault said there has never been a report about the alleged wounds suffered by the police officer; the knife allegedly used in the attack has never been fingerprinted.

The family has made several requests for a written coroner's report and a public inquest into the fatal shooting, the most recent in a letter dated May 2, to the Quebec Justice Minister Jacques Dupuis. Dupuis was out of the office yesterday and unavailable for comment.

Arsenault said all they have gotten by way of answer is a confirmation that the letter was received from the minister's office.

"It has been two years and the coroner's inquest is finished so why don't we have the report?" Arsenault asked.

"As a family we want all the information around the circumstances of his death and to be treated with respect," said Najlaa Bennis, sister of the deceased.