COP ASSAULTS WOMAN?
Burnaby RCMP Const. Harinder Paul Singh Pabla, who has 16 years of police experience, is claiming self defence against the assault which occurred inside the Langley Shopping mall when he was off-duty, following a parking dispute in the mall parking lot on Dec. 31, 2011. Victim Jessica Olive kicked Pabla in the shin and hit him with her purse after he followed her into the mall. She claims that without warning, Pabla struck her in the face.
LANGLEY – An Indo-Canadian cop was initially the victim, having his parking spot carelessly taken over by a woman who claimed she didn’t see him waiting but after he followed her into the Langley shopping mall on new year’s eve in 2011, he allegedly became a criminal who struck the woman inside the mall in front of many onlookers.
Burnaby RCMP Const. Harinder Paul Singh Pabla, who has 16 years of police experience, is claiming self defence against the assault which occurred when he was off-duty following a parking dispute in the mall parking lot on Dec. 31, 2011.
Pabla is facing one count of assault and is currently suspended from duty.
The RCMP is also conducting a parallel and ongoing code of conduct investigation into this incident, reported the Burnaby Now newspaper.
“RCMP members are accountable for their actions both on- and off-duty,” Burnaby RCMP Supt. Derren Lench said in a press release. “Like anyone else that has been charged with an offence, he will have the opportunity to respond to the charge in court.”
Pabla, who made his first court appearance in Surrey on July 3, is currently suspended from duty.
Pabla, who is accused of getting into a physical scrap with a woman over a parking spot, began in B.C. Provincial Court in Surrey on Tuesday.
On the afternoon of Dec. 31, 2011, Jessica Olive drove to the Willowbrook Shopping Centre to look for an outfit to wear to a party she was planning to attend that evening, reported the Province newspaper.
Olive, 23, testified after she parked and locked her vehicle, a man came up to her and told her she had taken his parking spot. She said he seemed a bit upset but described the conversation as normal.
“I apologized. I said I’m sorry,” Olive said, adding that she hadn’t noticed anyone else waiting to park.
When asked how the man responded, Olive dissolved into tears. She said he didn’t seem to accept her apology and made a comment about her sunglasses. She said she told him to “stop being a d—. It’s just a parking spot, let’s move on,” the Province reported
The man then made a rude comment. “It made me feel dirty,” she said.
It was after she entered the mall and Pabla followed that he allegedly committed the offence, when the alleged victim Olive kicked him in the shin and he pulled out her badge and told her he was a police officer and that she assaulted him and would face charges for her actions.
Instead of obeying his orders to stop, Olive responded that she kicked him for verbally assaulting her and loudly screamed at him to stop following her.
Olive hit Pabla again with her purse and told him to leave her alone. “I was very scared at that point,” Olive said. “It felt like no matter what I did, he wouldn’t leave me alone. I didn’t know what else to do to get him away from me.”
She claims that without warning, Pabla struck her in the face. Bystanders then intervened and the police were called.
Crown prosecutor Adam Jantunen told the Province he expects the central issue at trial will be whether Pabla acted in self-defence.
