A man caught with 27,500 fentanyl pills in a van at a traffic stop in Chilliwack is free and clear after a B.C. Supreme Court justice dismissed charges due to Charter violations.

Sandor Rigo was driving a mini-van on Highway 1 on April 4, 2017 when he was pulled over by Cpl. Clayton Catelier, a police service dog handler with Fraser Valley Traffic Services, according to a decision posted on Jan. 21.

Catelier noticed a strong odour of cologne or air freshener in the minivan and several cellphones between the driver and passengers seats, both indicators of possible drug dealing.

Cpl. Catelier also noted that Rigo was sa国际传媒渟haking violently.sa国际传媒� Based on those three factors, and that Rigo had a sa国际传媒渘onsensicalsa国际传媒� story about why he was travelling between Vancouver and Calgary, the officer detained Rigo for a drug investigation.

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The officer then deployed his police service dog, Doodz, to the exterior of the van. What happened next was the subject of some ambiguity, as Doodz seemed to be sa国际传媒渋n odoursa国际传媒� (i.e. detecting drugs) and was bouncing her nose, wagging her tail and sniffing hard.

The dog then did a partial sit or attempted to sit but was blocked by a curb. Sitting is the indication the dog has found narcotics. Catelier then advised Rigo that Doodz had detected narcotics, and he was under arrest.

Rigo was transported to the Chilliwack detachment, and the vehicle was towed to a local tire shop. An initial search of the vehicle turned up nothing, but on closer attention, Catelier opened the housing over the right rear well and found five bags filled with fentanyl pills.

Defence called a former Anaheim County police dog handler deemed an expert who was critical of the video of Doodzsa国际传媒檚 behaviour and Cateliersa国际传媒檚 dog handling. Much of the decision in the voir dire addressing the alleged Charter violations was focused around the dogsa国际传媒檚 search.

In his written decision, Justice Michael Brundrett found that Catelier lawfully detained Rigo, he had reasonable grounds to conduct a dog-sniff search, but he questioned the purported alert by Doodz.

sa国际传媒淚 have found that the final sit confirmation was ambiguous and not sufficiently objectively reliable such that it adequately adds to the overall totality of circumstances so as to justify a search of the vehicle,sa国际传媒� Justice Brundrett wrote.

Brundrett concluded the subsequent search was a violation of section 8 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He also found the officers involved did not properly offer Rigo the right to contact a lawyer, therefore there was also a violation of section 10(b) of the Charter.

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paul.henderson@theprogress.com
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