Handling of Vancouver police shoving incident faces new questions

The man who shot a video of a Vancouver police officer shoving a man to the ground says he has unanswered questions about the incident, and about the subsequent investigation into the incident.

Tyler Nielsen, a Downtown Eastside volunteer peer worker, shot the video last fall.

In it, police can be seen talking to an elderly woman when a man approaches and begins to question them. One of the officers then pushes the man to the ground.

“It was quite shocking, the sound of it, his head hitting the pavement,” Neilsen said.

“I did not find the man (who was shoved) aggressive whatsoever. It kind of comes back to the police just not capable of policing the Downtown Eastside. They’re not trained to deal with people in these situations. I feel the officer instigated the man being pushed to the ground.”

1:48 Video shows VPD officer shoving man to the ground

The video then shows an officer approaching Nielsen and asking him to give over the cell phone used to record the altercation. Neilsen refused out of concern the video would be deleted, he said.

A Vancouver Police Department use of force investigation under the direction of the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner subsequently concluded allegations of improper use of force were “unsubstantiated.”

Police said they were unware of the video until this weekend.

“I find it hard to believe that nothing was documented,” Nielsen said.

“They knew the video existed. I did film it, you can clearly see the officer trying to obtain the video directly out of my hands.”

Neilsen said police never contacted him about the incident.

Police say they did try to locate Nielsen, but were unable to do so. Police only had a nickname for Neilsen, supplied to them by the man pushed to the ground, a VPD spokesperson said.

The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner says it continues to review the case, and the recently surfaced video could lead to further investigation by an outside agency.