[URBAN NOTE] On the arrest of a Toronto police officer for a G20 sin

[rfmcdonald]

Posted without comment. Suffice it to say that, after the G20 and the police malfeasances there, I'm starting to have as little faith in the Toronto Police Service as British Columbians might feel for the RCMP after the Dziekanski affair revealed massive--well, something like lying and arrogance vis-a-vis non-police, at least. Did I mention that the Toronto policemans' union refused to help identify anyone? Twelve of thirteen possible police witnesses, curiously, couldn't help the Special Investigative Unit's investigators.

Const. Babak Andalib-Goortani was charged Tuesday with assault with a weapon. The charges relate to the treatment of Adam Nobody by police on the evening of June 26, said a statement released Tuesday by the province's Special Investigations Unit.

Nobody was one of about 1,000 people arrested during the two-day summit.

During his arrest at Queen's Park, Nobody suffered a fracture below his right eye and a broken nose.

Nobody pursued two charges of police brutality against the arresting officers, but in November the SIU said although it believed excessive force had been used, it could not identify the suspect officers.

[. . .]

In its initial investigation, the SIU used a YouTube video that showed Nobody's arrest, but investigators said the video didn't show the officers clearly enough to identify them.

The video shows Nobody being swarmed and at least one officer making a punching motion toward him.

[. . .]

Toronto police Chief Bill Blair appeared on CBC Radio and questioned the veracity of the YouTube video.

Police forensically examined the tape and found it had been "tampered" with, Blair said.

"The evidence that they're relying on is false. It's been edited. A significant portion of it has been removed," he said on CBC's Metro Morning.

[. . .]

Blair's allegations prompted John Bridge, the Toronto man who had shot the video, to come forward and swear in an affidavit that the video had not been tampered with — only that he had turned his camera off for a few seconds because he thought he might have to retreat from advancing police.

Blair apologized a few days later and retracted his statements saying there was no evidence there was ever any "intent to mislead."

The SIU reopened its investigation and soon announced it had received two more videos of Nobody's arrest and Toronto police had provided investigators with the names of 15 officers who might have been in the vicinity or involved in the arrest.

The SIU singled out three of those officers, but they refused to give statements. The other 12 officers said they could not identify the officers in the video.

Toronto police then provided the name of one more witness police officer, who identified one of the three officers as Andalib-Goortani, according to the SIU.