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rfmcdonaldThe below video made headlines in Toronto. The CBC late this morning
Edward Keenan's analysis in the Toronto Star notes that the escalation in the violence from the arrest is difficult to justify.
All this comes at a time when there is talk of expanding the powers of TTC special constables.
oronto's public transit authority has launched an investigation after an ugly incident where two TTC special constables were filmed fighting with two men at Union Station.
The six-minute long video, which was posted on both YouTube earlier in March and started spreading quickly online Tuesday night, purportedly shows an incident from the evening Jan. 29, 2015, as the downtown subway station fills up with fans leaving a Toronto Maple Leafs game.
Two men, who were later arrested by police, struggle with a pair of TTC special constables and a fare collector as crowds look on.
Everyone involved appears to struggle or throw a punch at some point, but at one moment where the situation appears to be calming down one of the special constable punches one of the men hard in the face twice.
Later, the same officer throws a flurry of punches at the man as he's held against a wall.
Edward Keenan's analysis in the Toronto Star notes that the escalation in the violence from the arrest is difficult to justify.
The first officer holds the father on the ground, the second officer holds the son against the wall. The better part of a minute later, the son seems to try half-heartedly to escape the hold on his hands. The second officer grabs his neck, then Jamie reaches and grabs the officer’s lapels.
This causes the second officer to, it appears to me, fly into a rage. He starts wildly throwing overhand haymakers at Jamie Gillman’s head. He lands hard punches quickly. A nearby person who appears to be a TTC employee grabs and restrains Gillman, and the officer again punches him in the head. As the TTC employee puts his body between the men, the officer continues throwing big punches over him, landing some on Gillman’s head. One, two, three, four, five times he punches, his face contorted in rage.
Shortly after, as other bystanders shout at and shove the officer, the whole situation seems like it might get more violent again. Then Toronto Police Service officers arrive and dissolve the situation immediately, cuffing and arresting both Gillmans.
Whatever else you might call them — and some might say they are understandable, or harmless, or even justified, though I wouldn’t — it is very hard for me to see how you can look at most of this and see the force used as defensive or necessary.
The elder Gillman was punched hard while kneeling face-down on the ground, his hands visible on the officer’s legs. The younger Gillman is punched repeatedly, in many cases while being restrained by another TTC employee, without retaliating. Throughout, both appear to resist being restrained, but neither makes any obvious aggressively violent or retaliatory moves in the minutes after the initial flurry of action.
All this comes at a time when there is talk of expanding the powers of TTC special constables.
