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economist suntribune n e ws saturday oct 26 2002 york police violated teens rights but other criticisms by roger varley staff writer york regional police vio lated the rights of a 14-year- old boy charged with manslaughter in the death of his fourmonthold sister but many of a judges criticisms of the investigation were not warranted a review of the case concluded halton regional police insp signy pittman who investigated yorks handling of the case at the request of chief robert middaugh found investigators took some inadvisable steps dur ing the statementtaking process chief middaugh asked for the review after charges against the richmond hill youth were withdrawn in june after mr justice william gorewich ruled a videotaped statement key to the crowns case was inadmissible justice gorewich blasted homicide investigators say ing they violated the youths rights while taking a state ment distorted information given to a doctor ignored advice from a crown attorney and failed to review a perti nent childrens aid file on the youths family although it was readily available while the boy was home alone caring for the baby and his 20monthold sister in march 2000 he noticed the infant had breathing prob lems and was turning blue he called a nearby aunt who called an ambulance the baby died the next day insp pittman said the investigators should have allowed the youths parents to be present while they took his statement let him make his statement at his home and asked him if he wanted to leave with his uncle prior to taking his statement but she said informa tion in the cas file would not have affected the deci sion to charge the youth and the distorted informa tion given to the doctor had no impact on the doc tors conclusions the youth told police he played with his sister before her death but police told the doctor he said he played games with her the doctor told them the baby would not have been able to play games with the injuries they suffered and investigators charged the boy despite insp pittmans conclusion investigators vio lated the youths rights during the statementtaking process chief middaugh said he is sat isfied they conducted a thor ough and appropriate investi gation and acted in good faith performance of the duties he said the decision to charge the youth prior to the conclusion of the investiga tion was driven by concerns about the safety of the youth the family particularly a young child and the com munity he said the force is taking steps to improve its investiga tion methods these include the possibility of using portable video equipment to take statements away from the police station and greater consistency in the cautioning process e in and try o abulousf iiiwfiispjissfcs our recipes are passed down from generation to generation our coupon however expires soon our recipes may be closely guarded but its no secret we serve the best food in town and now you can sample some of ou inning d hes with this timely coupon but hurry because unlike our recipes this wont last forever i irfi tetovta offer valid sundayi thursday 500 pjvlclose not valid with any i bistro other offer one coupons 1 per table expires oct 3102 two lights east of warden on highway 7 i f the pumpkin at participating retailers you can pr parkville trick ag at the at 0entitelourt mt oe fairyiew is whollyowned jwwafiaweworp fealurmi northern itaiy octobei wmembefh 2 antipasto buffet