Teflon Cop slides by again: An RCMP officer who keeps avoiding justice for wrongdoing even got promoted

Cpl. Keven Biagioni first had charges dropped for shooting a suspect armed with a BBQ skewer, then avoided drunk-driving charge for off-duty road-rage incident

The final report by one cop about another cop’s assessment into a third cop’s botched investigation into a fourth cop’s off-duty drunken road-rage crash is extremely unsatisfying to the Chilliwack victim, which is a big understatement.

“I’m frustrated and mentally exhausted from all of this,” Brianne Giasson said recently regarding a nearly three-year-old crash from which she never fully recovered.

The off-duty RCMP officer in question is Cpl. Keven Biagioni who somehow avoided a criminal drunk-driving charge Christmas Day 2022 when a colleague attended the scene and did not conduct a proper investigation.

Biagioni also received considerable media attention after he shot a domestic violence suspect brandishing a barbecue skewer in a parking lot by the Vedder River on Jan. 12, 2021. After that was investigated by the Independent Investigations Office of B.C. (IIO), Biagioni was criminally charged on Nov. 3, 2022 with discharging a firearm with intent, aggravated assault, and careless use of a firearm. 

The case slowly wended through the courts until a five-day preliminary inquiry last fall, but shortly after the B.C. Prosecution Service dropped the charges.

Two months after the criminal charges were laid, on Dec. 25, 2022, Biagioni was involved in an altercation in the parking lot of the McDonald’s on Luckakuck Way in Chilliwack. 

The officer was apparently drunk in his vehicle. While in the drive-thru, a staff member had to tap on his window because he wasn’t driving forward. Then he blocked Giasson and her partner Joshua Serniak in their car. Biagioni then acted aggressively, gave them the finger, and pursued them when they left the parking lot westbound on Luckakuck eventually smashing into their car at a high rate of speed.

Biagioni then said a couple of things that weren't true, according to Giasson’s account: that he had kids in the car so had to leave; then that it was his girlfriend’s car; then that neither ICBC nor police needed to be involved.

Friends investigating friends

But police were called. Const. Kaylie Bird attended the scene along with Const. Joyce Yu. Const. Bird reported that she smelled a “profound” odour of alcohol when she approached Biagioni and Serniak. She recognized Biagioni as an off-duty corporal from the Chilliwack RCMP, and then she directed Serniak to give a breath sample. He registered zero alcohol. 

Const. Bird then realized that Biagioni was the suspect, but she still didn’t order a breath sample from him. Instead she contacted a superior officer, Cpl. Stephan Mendela, who told Bird to conduct an impaired driving investigation as normal. Both Bird and Yu could tell Biagioni was impaired as he was slurring his words and stunk of booze. 

“Why would you do that?” Biagioni asked Bird regarding the call to a supervisor.

“How could you do this to me? I would never do this to you.”

Bird ordered Biagioni to provide a breath sample, which he failed. He cursed and said he didn’t want to blow a second sample as was his right because he knew he would fail again.

Both vehicles were damaged so badly they had to be towed from the scene, and Serniak and Giasson were both injured in the crash, though not seriously. 

When a driver displays clear signs of impairment (e.g. stumbling, slurring, strong smell of alcohol), officers are not supposed to make the demand to blow into an “approved screening device (ASD)”, they are supposed to read to the suspect a “Breath Demand,” according to Cpl. Michael Sabulsky, a registered expert in traffic enforcement and impaired investigations, who is also a master instructor for the device used as an ASD in B.C.

Because looking and acting drunk can be subjective, Const. Bird was not in the wrong to make Biagioni blow into the ASD, but anything above 80 milligrams should trigger a Criminal Code investigation and a “fail” means a blood alcohol concentration of more than 100 milligrams.

Instead, Const. Bird issued Biagioni a 90-day immediate roadside prohibition (IRP) under the Motor Vehicle Act.  

“I couldn’t wrap my brain around it,” Giasson said in 2023 after she learned Biagioni would not be criminally charged.

“He shouldn’t be getting away with this, and people should know that victims have no protection.”

Giasson filed a complaint via the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP (CRCC) on Feb. 23, 2023. Her complaint was against the officers on scene, including Biagioni. Finally, almost two-and-a-half years later, on July 10, 2025, Giasson received the “final report” from Upper Fraser Valley Regional RCMP detachment Supt. Darren Pankratz.

As part of that report shared with this reporter, Supt. Pankratz said that her complaint against Biagioni had already been dealt with as part of an investigation into his actions under the RCMP Code of Conduct so “I will not comment any further on the investigation into the conduct of Mr. Biagioni as that was a separate process.”

So he’s off the hook, again.

Instead, the investigation only looked into Const. Kaylie Bird’s actions, of which Giasson made three allegations: 
– That Bird committed a neglect of duty by failing to conduct a proper investigation;
– that she also neglected her duty by failing to provide updates or return phone calls requesting updates;
– and that Bird had an “improper attitude” by directing a witness to leave the scene and making Giasson and Serniak walk from the crash to find a ride home on a cold December day.

Supt. Pankratz’s final report constitutes his conclusions about the investigation, which was conducted by Cpl. Darryl Anderson. Regarding the first allegation, Pankratz agreed that Bird “did not conduct a proper impaired driving investigation.”

However, he declined to make a connection to the fact Bird admitted herself that Biagioni was a “co-worker, friend as well as a supervisor that has been known to her for three years.”

“I have no evidence to support an inference that Mr. Biagioni's status as a police officer was a factor in Constable Bird's decision.”

Giasson doesn’t agree.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” she said.

And regarding Giasson’s two other allegations, Pankratz rejected them. He wrote that Bird was told by a superior officer, Sgt. Andy Lot, to not communicate with Giasson or Serniak and to leave the communication to him. Since Giasson was not told she should communicate with Sgt. Lot, her messages to Bird were simply ignored.

As for allegation three, Pankratz simply did not believe Giasson’s account that a witness was sent away and that she and Serniak were told to walk away to find a ride.

Incidentally, when this incident was first reported, S/Sgt. Kris Clark from RCMP ‘E’ division media relations told me that Const. Bird’s use of an IRP in this case “is aligned with similar fact files and does not meet the threshold for criminal charges.” [Emphasis mine.]

I asked S/Sgt. Clark to explain this seeming contradiction with the final report. He said he issued that statement before the review of the conduct had been completed into the incident, which is true.

Biagioni skates again

The extent of the outcome regarding the RCMP officers involved is that Cpl Biagioni is still employed carrying on as normal. 

(It’s worth noting that he received the promotion from constable to corporal in February 2022. That’s three months after he was criminally charged with shooting a suspect.)

No other officers on scene received any discipline or feedback. The only repercussion from the whole incident is that last month Bird was given some “operational guidance.”

“On June 20, 2025, Const. Bird received operational guidance from Cpl. Darryl Anderson regarding the proper application of legislation and policy, and the proper implementation and assessment of an IRP under the British Columbia Motor Vehicle Act vs. a Criminal Code investigation into impaired driving.”

Supt. Pankratz also apologized to Giasson for the “oversight.”

“Please accept my apology for any distress you may have experienced from this incident. I would hope that the corrective actions taken, and this apology, will assist in bringing closure to this matter raised with the CRCC.”

Giasson is frustrated and mentally exhausted from all of this over the last three years culminating with zero repercussions for anyone involved.

“Body-cams would have fixed all this ‘he-said-she-said’ bullshit,” she said.

“I emailed them back saying basically ‘thanks for the apology but my view on the RCMP has been ruined because of this whole thing.’ As long as [Cpl] Keven [Biagioni] is RCMP, they do not have my support. That also includes if he retires as an RCMP. He gets a taxpayer paycheque. His victims shouldn't have to pay for that.”

And while she definitely disagrees with the conclusion that Biagioni was not given favourable treatment because he’s an RCMP officer, she’s ready to walk away from this fight.

“It is what it is now and I'm ready to move on with my life and fix my mental health that was absolutely destroyed from this incident.”

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Paul J. Henderson
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