A senior officer from the North End police station was portrayed as being more concerned about how he and his unit would be viewed by his superiors than exposing the truth behind the crash that killed Crystal Taman.
Sgt. Chris Humniski was repeatedly questioned by commission counsel David Paciocco at the Taman Inquiry on Wednesday about what he did after the February 2005 crash, to whom he talked and why.
Sgt. Chris Humniski answers questions during the Taman inquiry.
Humniski was the shift supervisor of the North End station, and he joined Derek Harvey-Zenk and many other officers for drinks at a local lounge and then for more drinks at an officer's home in East St. Paul.
While the manager of the lounge had testified several of the officers were loud and unruly that night and that he was concerned several of them were drunk and not fit to drive, Paciocco reminded Humniski he told investigators examining the role of the Winnipeg police officers that the event was a "low-key affair" and that he had not seen any officer who was drunk.
Humniski said he and another senior officer had become concerned about the media's portrayal of the officers' behaviour during the hours leading up to the crash and they approached their superiors three days after the crash to tell them what really happened. He said that resulted in them being formally questioned by the WPS professional standards unit.
Paciocco said Humniski was the leader of the shift and the fatal crash and the drinking that led up to it had implications for his officers and his own reputation.
"You were worried about the reputation of your shift and that's why you came forward, isn't that right sir?" Paciocco asked Humniski.
"No sir," Humniski replied, adding he only wanted to counter what he said was the distorted version of events that had been portrayed by the media.
"You realized that part of the investigation would look at the conduct of the officers there, at Branigan's and later at Sean Black's," Paciocco said.
"Initially, no, it was just an accident," Humniski said.
"You realized there would be implications for certain members of your shift," Paciocco said, adding it could affect their future promotions or current status with possible discipline letters on their personnel files.
"Later on, but initially is was just an accident," Humniski said.
Paciocco said Humniski's description to investigators of the officers' behaviour at Sean Black's East St. Paul home failed to mention anyone had been drinking.
"Would you agree with me that the way you couched this was an understatement of what happened at Sean Black's home?" Paciocco asked Humniski.
"No," he replied.
Humniski said he met with Black at the North End station several hours after the crash but only to tell him a woman had been killed and that Harvey-Zenk had been charged. But Paciocco wanted to know why Humniski pulled Black out of the station building into the February cold, where they couldn't be heard by other officers, and never asked him for details about what had happened before Harvey-Zenk left Black's home.
Humniski said he never asked Black about events at his home and he denied attempting to present details to investigators or to the inquiry in any way other than how they had occurred.
Later, Const. Ted Michalik told the inquiry Humniski and a patrol sergeant addressed the shift the following Monday, advising them they would all be questioned about what they did that night and how much they drank and how much they had seen others drinking.
aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca
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