JIWA o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2007-08-03 published
'True hero' killed in the line of duty
Two men face charges after 22-year veteran is slammed into a
tree while attempting to arrest suspected airbag thief
By Timothy
APPLEBY and Geoff
NIXON with a report by Alan
CAIRNS,
special to The Globe and Mail, Page A1
Markham, Ontario -- An undercover York Regional Police officer,
dragged to his death yesterday by an alleged car thief on a sleepy
residential street, is "a true hero" who paid the ultimate price
for his "selfless sacrifice," Police Chief Armand LA
BARGE said.
A charge of manslaughter has been laid against a 19-year-old
Toronto man, with further charges pending. A second suspect in
custody also faces an array of criminal charges.
Constable Robert
PLUNKETT was a 22-year veteran of York Regional
Police and 43-year-old father of three. He died after an abortive
5 a.m. operation when he approached the driver's side of a car
to arrest a man suspected of trying to steal airbags - a profitable
mini-industry in the auto-theft world.
The▼ suspect threw the Honda into reverse and Constable
PLUNKETT
was trapped by the open driver's-side door. The vehicle drove
over a curb, across a lawn and slammed into a tree, fatally injuring
the officer, Chief LA
BARGE said.
Backup police then rammed the vehicle and arrested the driver
as he attempted to escape. The other suspect, nearby in a second
car, was also quickly apprehended.
Rushed to Scarborough Grace Hospital, Constable
PLUNKETT died
soon afterward - the first York Regional Police officer killed
in the line of duty in more than 20 years.
The slain officer once won a bravery reward for rescuing an elderly
woman from a frozen lake and was renowned for his work on behalf
of the Special Olympics, a forum for disabled athletes.
"Rob and police officers like him are true pillars of the community
that we serve, and their selfless sacrifice and their hard work
ensures that the communities that we call home are safe places
in which to live and to raise a family," Chief LA
BARGE said.
Asked if Constable
PLUNKETT's approach of the suspect was in
line with normal procedure, Chief LA
BARGE replied, "Surveillance
officers, when they undertake these types of details, formulate
a plan as to how they would effect the arrests where arrests
need to be made."
As upwards of 30 officers descended on the crime scene early
yesterday, residents of Ascot Crescent described the chaos.
Startled awake by the ruckus, one resident described seeing Constable
PLUNKETT lying on the street.
"I heard a very loud noise and somebody yelling," said a woman
who asked that her name not be published. "He was lying on the
ground and they were trying to get him to breathe."
She said she took a blanket outside to an emergency worker in
hopes that it would be passed on to Constable
PLUNKETT, but it
was too dark for her to tell if it was eventually placed upon
him.
A few doors away, at a home directly across the street from where
he was killed, another homeowner recounted hearing officers yelling,
"Breathing! Breathing!"
Police had followed two cars - both Hondas - from an address
in Toronto to Ascot Crescent, in the Birchmount Road and Steeles
Avenue area. At least one of the vehicles was stolen and police
believe it had been taken to a quiet location to remove its airbag.
The▼ driver was trying to do just that when Constable
PLUNKETT
moved in for the arrest, Chief LA
BARGE said.
The death is the first killing of a police officer in York Region
since 1984, when two officers died in the line of duty within
weeks, and sent shock waves across the force, formed in 1971 and
now serving more than 900,000 people.
"It's an organization where we've not lost many officers, but
even one is one too many," Deputy Chief Bruce
HERRIDGE said.
The theft of airbags and other auto accessories is a long-established
business, said Detective Staff Sergeant Scott
MILLS, who heads
the Ontario Provincial Police auto-theft unit.
"There is a very large grey market for replacement auto components,
airbags being one, along with Global Position System, stereos,
body components - things that can easily be put into high-end
vehicles," he said.
"Body shops buy them. There's a very low profit margin in auto
body repair, so if the owner can buy, say, airbags for a Cadillac
Escalade for $100 on the grey market, then he doesn't have to
go to General Motors and buy them for $400."
As for the thieves, police say they range from drug-hungry addicts
needing a fix, to slick, well-organized criminal gangs.
"And some shops buy them up like candy," another police source
said.
In this instance, detectives believe the suspects specialized
in the theft of airbags, which also get shipped abroad to developing
countries.
Chief LA BARGE suggested Constable
PLUNKETT had no choice but
to act as he did.
"Surveillance officers work in a team environment, but the situations
that they encounter can happen so quickly that there is absolutely
no alternative but for the surveillance officers to make those
arrests," he said.
"And this is the particular situation that we are dealing with
here."
Chief LA BARGE indicated that 43 airbags had been stolen in Markham
since January of this year - most from Honda and Acura model
vehicles - and that this particular investigation had been under
way for two or three weeks.
Nadeem JIWA, 19, has been charged with manslaughter, which usually
describes an act of unintentional homicide. Baseer
YOUSAFZAI,
23, faces charges of breach of bail and possession of stolen
property.
Both men are from Toronto and likely face additional charges,
police said.
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JIWA o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2007-08-09 published
Officer remembered as friend, athlete
'Affable manner and his Huron County charm made him a very easy
person to get to know,' Chief says
By Sean Patrick
SULLIVAN, Canadian Press, Page A10
Newmarket -- Thousands of police officers from across Canada
paid tribute yesterday to slain Detective Constable Robert
PLUNKETT,
who was remembered at his funeral service as a dedicated family
man with a personal motto of: "Go big or go home."
Det. Constable
PLUNKETT, 43, a 22-year veteran of York Regional
Police, was killed last week when he was struck by a car while
attempting to make an arrest.
Officers in dress uniform were marshalled on a grass-covered
slope before marching into the complex in this city north of
Toronto, followed by a solemn stream of mourners.
The complex's 3,500 seats were filled, as was an overflow room.
Some 1,500 other mourners - many of them uniformed police officers
- listened to the ceremony from the parking lot in 30-degree
temperatures.
York
Regional
Police Chief Armand LA
BARGE praised Det. Constable
PLUNKETT's athleticism and superb physical conditioning, which
he said set the officer apart from others in his rookie year.
"Rob's affable manner and his Huron County charm made him a very
easy person to get to know, and as a member of our police service,
Rob distinguished himself as a very determined and a very gifted
athlete," Chief LA
BARGE said.
York Inspector Tom
CARRIQUE said Det. Constable
PLUNKETT's colleagues
valued his ability to bring levity to a situation with a practical
joke, often at the expense of an unsuspecting supervisor.
He recalled how "Plunk" and a few accomplices were once caught
carrying a colleague's Austin Mini Cooper across a parking lot
on their way to hiding it in a corn field.
Glenn MacDONNELL, president of Special Olympics Ontario, said
Det. Constable
PLUNKETT's love of sport - and his belief that
policing is more than just law and order - prompted the enthusiastic
officer to throw himself into organizing events for the group,
including acting as chair for the Special Olympic Spring Games
in 2000.
Det. Constable
PLUNKETT received a number of accolades throughout
his career, including one in February, 1998, when he was recognized
for bravery in assisting in rescuing an elderly woman from the
freezing waters of Swan Lake in nearby Markham.
He is survived by his wife Sonja and three children, Amanda,
Matthew and Jeffrey.
The funeral comes one day after a charge against a suspect in
Det. Constable
PLUNKETT's death, Nadeem
JIWA, 19, was upgraded
from manslaughter to first-degree murder. Baseer
YOUSAFZAI, 23,
faces at least four lesser charges. Both suspects appeared in
a Newmarket courtroom yesterday and will return to court later
this month.
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JIWAH o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2007-08-03 published
York officer dies attempting arrest
Const. Rob
PLUNKETT, 43, was dragged by a car, pinned to a tree,
then thrown from the vehicle.
By Steve RENNIE, Canadian Press, Fri., August 3, 2007
Markham -- A pre-dawn police probe into air bag thefts turned
tragic yesterday when a veteran York Region officer died after
being dragged by a car, pinned to a tree and then thrown from
the vehicle while attempting an arrest, police said.
Const. Rob
PLUNKETT, hailed as "true hero" by his police chief,
was the force's first officer to die in the line of duty since
1984 and only the third in the department's history.
A 19-year-old man faces a manslaughter charge in the death of
the 43-year-old Markham married father of three and police said
additional charges are pending.
PLUNKETT's death came as a heavy blow to a force not accustomed
to loss, said Deputy Chief Bruce
HERRIDGE.
"It's an organization where we've not lost many officers, but
even one is one too many," said
HERRIDGE, adding that
PLUNKETT
was well-known within the force.
The▲ tragic confluence of events that sent
PLUNKETT to hospital
with fatal injuries were outlined yesterday by York police Chief
Armand LA BARGE.
During a joint investigation between 5 District criminal investigation
bureau and the York police special services unit into airbag
thefts, police surveillance officers spotted two Hondas -- one
white and one gold -- leaving a Toronto address.
Police said there have been a rash of airbag thefts since last
September and 43 thefts since January of this year. Stolen airbags
can net between $1,500 and $2,000, LA
BARGE said.
Officers believed at the time the gold Honda was stolen, LA
BARGE
said. He confirmed at the afternoon news conference the car was
indeed reported stolen.
The two Hondas were driven to a crescent in Markham, just north
of Toronto, where plainclothes officers saw the drivers park
their cars. The driver of the gold Honda opened his door and
police allege he took out a stolen air bag.
Just after 5 a.m.,
PLUNKETT moved toward the open driver's side
door of the gold Honda intending to make an arrest, said LA
BARGE.
"As Const.
PLUNKETT attempted to arrest the suspect, the suspect
put the vehicle into reverse and accelerated over a curb, across
a lawn and over several shrubs," he said.
PLUNKETT was then pinned between the open door and a tree as
the suspect kept trying to drive away, LA
BARGE said. The officer
was then dragged onto a nearby lawn and thrown from the car.
"The suspect continued to reverse across the lawn at which time
assisting officers rammed the vehicle to stop its progress,"
said LA BARGE.
A local resident, who didn't want to be named, said he heard
two loud bangs outside his window and looked out to see a man
lying on a lawn across the street.
The neighbour said he heard cries of, "He's bleeding, he's bleeding,"
shortly before an ambulance arrived.
PLUNKETT was taken to a hospital in east Toronto, where he died
of his injuries.
Nadeem JIWAH, 19, has been charged with manslaughter and police
say more charges are pending.
A second suspect, 23-year-old Baseer
YOUSAFZAI, was also arrested
and is facing charges of theft, mischief and bail violation.
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