ANGELO HAS SEEN NO JUSTICE AFTER MULTIPLE POLICE ASSAULTS

Written by: P.O.W.E.R. CW: Police violence, vehicular assault, acute violence, medical trauma.

P.O.W.E.R

Dec 05, 2024

Meet Angelo.

Evangelos Lagoudis is 75-years-old and seeking justice after what can only be described as years of harassment, surveillance, intimidation, persecution, and profiling by law enforcement, including several instances of police brutality, according to numerous public reports and documents obtained by P.O.W.E.R.

“Police were invented to serve the aristocracy and now they serve the establishment”, says Angelo, who sought out P.O.W.E.R. to share his story.

“You don’t win against police in Canada. The system is that they degrade you and your character and make you feel like you don’t matter. There is no oversight and accountability for police. They can get away with everything because they are above the law.”

HISTORY OF BEING TARGETED BY THE POLICE

Angelo reports having experienced multiple instances of police profiling by the RCMP and Vancouver's Transit Police. Angelo began to suspect surveillance and profiling by the police since coming to Canada. And this was before two major incidents.

RUN OVER BY CALGARY POLICE DEPARTMENT

Angelo suffered life threatening injuries in December 2018 after Calgary Police Const. Laurence Mooney hit and knocked him to the ground, and ran him over twice - once in reverse, and then a second time immediately back over Angelo. You can watch the footage here:

**WARNING: below contains extremely distressing video**

“To survive, it had to be divine intervention. It’s against the odds that I survived an incident of that magnitude,” says Angelo. While he survived, the injuries would change his life forever.

Angelo was rushed to hospital for seventeen days of intensive care, per Alberta Health Services’ discharge summary, obtained in full by P.O.W.E.R. According to the same document, Angelo suffered significant rib fractures, pelvic fractures, and major vital organ damage. His case went to trial in the Provincial Court of Alberta where Const. Mooney was convicted for careless driving, which was challenged and ordered to a retrial by the Alberta Court of Appeal.

After the incident, Angelo was on crutches for six months, and continues to face spinal issues and other major permanent injuries.

According to the Memorandum of Judgement from the Court of Appeal of Alberta, Const. Mooney reversed his truck to get into a paid parking stall, “covering a distance of 7.2 metres in 3.0 seconds, reaching a speed of not less than 17 kilometres an hour”.

And on Nov. 29, Justice of the Peace Arnold Schlayer found Const. Laurence Mooney guilty for a second time of a Traffic Act charge of careless driving.

Angelo is not alone. Notably, this incident parallels what happened to Dennis Hunter in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Hunter was struck down in the road by VPD officer Jack Zhao and faced life threatening injuries. Jack Zhao was charged with a motor vehicle offence and walked away with a $2000 fine.

Angelo, like many others, did not see justice for this life altering event. Angelo has never healed completely and still struggles with basic daily tasks like doing laundry, shaving, and cleaning his apartment.

ASSAULT BY VANCOUVER POLICE DEPARTMENT

On Jun. 9, 2019 in Vancouver, Angelo suffered a second violent assault from VPD Const. Simrit Roycombough.

Angelo describes the incident in his Office of the Police Complaints Commission application:

“I was walking by parked cars because there was no sidewalk, and he accused me of looking suspiciously at the cars. I told him if I was going to do what he was thinking I was doing, I joked I would do it 50 years ago, not at age 70. I kept walking slowly and without warning I was suddenly tackled to the ground without the ability to brace for the impact of him or the ground. I have photos of injuries, medical records, and photos of the area with the police involved. After being handcuffed and lifted to a seated position, I tried to point to my pain with my chin, but the officers laughed at me. I stood to ease the pain, but they ordered me to sit back down, and then another officer grabbed me and physically forced me to sit back down, which intensified the pain and produced another sharp pain. They told me I wasn’t charged with anything,”

At the hospital, staff recorded that Angelo had suffered a humeral fracture on his left arm, according to hospital records obtained by P.O.W.E.R. Despite it being the officer’s obligation to contact the Independent Investigations Office of BC (IIO) after instances of police violence or severe injury, Angelo reports that he contacted the IIO himself to notify them of the incident. Angelo engaged with the IIO and OPCC, which then led to an external investigation triggered by the Police Act.

The Abbotsford Police Department was then assigned to investigate the Vancouver Police Department.

Roycombough was charged by the BC Prosecution Service based on recommendations from the IIO - a rare occurrence in BC.

When the incident went to Vancouver’s Provincial Court, VPD Const. Roycombough was found not guilty by Judge Delaram Jahani. Judge Jahani’s decision reflected Roycombough’s account of the incident, in which Roycombough asserted that Angelo had been walking past the cars with intent to break in.

Roycombough was cleared of blame, and Angelo’s arm never recovered mobility and strength.

Const. Roycombough, notably, is regarded as a “hero cop” from an incident in 2016 where he received the Chief’s commendation.

Media surrounding the case mostly framed the case as hero cop vs Angelo. According to a recent tweet by VPD Deputy Howard Chow, Const. Roycombough is now returning to patrol after his time on, you guessed it, some desk duty as punishment.

ON JUSTICE

“The fact that we took them to court is a win.”

When asked about what justice would look like, Angelo says:

“I survived. I watched people react to the video of me almost getting killed, this effects your life and makes you a different person. I am supposed to be dead, I survived because I have strength, luck and divine intervention. None of my broken ribs hit my heart. Strength and luck. The doctor told me I was a tough guy, the nurses told me I was like a superman. I do not deserve to die under wheels.

I can’t go home dealing with all of this. But I survived.

There are people, innocent people, that have been killed. People who did not survive. They have relatives. They try to find justice and they do not find it. What they experience is worse.”