WIFE STABS RCMP OFFICER-HE IS CHARGED AND LOSES CHILDREN
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1998 03:01:07 -0400 (EDT)

Officer sues superiors and RCMP over wife stabbing

Criminal charges against the Mountie were dismissed.

Neal Hall
VANCOUVER SUN
July 23, 1998

A Burnaby Mountie is suing the RCMP, claiming he was wrongfully arrested and maliciously prosecuted for assaulting his wife with a knife.

Constable Patrick Reilly is also suing the commanding officers of the force in B.C. and the Pacific Region over the ensuing disciplinary action taken for alleged disgraceful conduct, even though criminal charges were dismissed.

The legal action stems from police being called on June 26, 1994 to the Aldergrove home of Reilly and his then-wife Kimberly Reilly, a Surrey RCMP constable.

Patrick Reilly had slash wounds across his face, neck and head. His wife had cuts on her hands and arms. In his statement of claim, filed this week in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver, Patrick Reilly says he told the investigating officer that he was assaulted by his wife but the officer was negligent in not doing a proper investigation. He claims the officer, Langley RCMP Corporal Paul Bissonnette, failed to examine the plaintiff’s wounds or identify the inconsistencies of Kimberly Reilly’s account of the events in relation to her wounds.

Patrick Reilly was arrested, locked in police cells and later charged with assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm. Patrick Reilly claims Bissonnette later concealed from the Crown the opinion of a pathologist that the wife’s wounds on her hands and arms were self-inflicted. He claims Bissonnette told Rory Walters, who handled the prosecution of the criminal proceedings, that the pathologist’s report was inconclusive.

On July 23, 1996, the criminal proceedings against Reilly were dismissed and the Crown did not appeal. Disciplinary proceedings were initiated by the RCMP to suspend Reilly for disgraceful conduct that brought discredit to the force. He was suspended without pay from June 28 to Sept. 17,1996.

SEE RCMP, B3
RCMP from B1

Mountie sues force over allegations against him Further disciplinary proceedings to discharge him from the force were later abandoned, Reilly claims. He is suing RCMP Sergeant James Moore, the officer who conducted the internal investigation. The lawsuit claims Moore “acted negligently and with callous disregard for the safety and well-being of the plaintiff” by failing to conduct a proper investigation and relying on the negligent investigation by Bissonnette.

Reilly is also suing top RCMP officials — Dennis Farrell, the former commanding officer of the RCMP in B.C., for alleged negligence for initiating disciplinary proceedings against the plaintiff; the commanding officer of the RCMP Pacific region, Larry Proke, and the commanding RCMP officer in B.C., Murray Johnston — for failing to reinstate him.

Reilly claims the false arrest and malicious prosecution cost him $35,000 in legal fees and seriously damaged his character, reputation and alienated him from his daughter and twin sons, preventing him from gaining custody of his children. He also claims he has suffered humiliation and loss of standing within the RCMP and was excluded as a member of the emergency response team.

Reilly is seeking general, special, punitive and aggravated damages, plus unpaid wages and court costs.

False Abuse Allegation