Fellow firefighter testifies

The Vancouver police sergeant who struck Curtis Mason with his baton was told beforehand that Mason was a member of the Vancouver fire department, a fellow firefighter testified yesterday.
Curtis Mason, 45, and his son Grant, 21, were charged following a high-profile street fight with Vancouver police last St. Patrick’s Day. Footage of the incident was posted on youtube.com garnering more than 200,000 hits.
Thomas Huska, a firefighter with 12 years experience, testified that Curtis was grappling with one officer when Sgt. Keiron McConnell arrived.
“I put my hand out and said ‘Keiron, he’s a member of ours.’”
McConnell, Huska said, shook his baton and told him not to tell him how to do his job.
At that point, the older Mason started to break free from the officer he was fighting.
McConnell hit him twice with his baton.
Huska repeated that Curtis was a firefighter. He said McConnell responded, “Tom. I’ve got four officers going to the hospital because of these guys. Your guys are cutting them out right now,” referring to an accident between two police cruisers that occurred on the way to the scene.
Later, Huska went to check on Curtis, who was bleeding from a cut over one eye.
“Curtis Mason told me to F-off. He spat at me and said he was no brother of mine.”
–jeff.hodson@metronews.ca