[URBAN NOTE] "Cop guilty of G20 assault won’t be fired — but he loses 5 days’ pay"

[rfmcdonald]

Wendy Gillis' report in the Toronto Star conveys unbelievable news. Clearly, the police cannot be expected to administer justice to those of their own who commit crimes.

The sole Toronto Police officer convicted for using excessive force at the G20 summit has been docked five days’ pay at a police disciplinary tribunal, after the retired judge who heard his case ruled Toronto police Const. Babak Andalib-Goortani “has already paid too large a price for his misdeed.”

Andalib-Goortani pleaded guilty last month to misconduct under Ontario’s Police Services Act after he was criminally convicted of assault with a weapon for striking G20 protester Adam Nobody with his baton at the June 2010 G20 Summit. The officer served no jail time.

During sentencing submissions, Nobody’s lawyer Marc Gibson argued Andalib-Goortani’s should immediately be dismissed — a penalty that has been meted out to other Ontario police officers found guilty of assault with a weapon.

Prosecutor Brendan van Niejenhuis asked for a penalty of a one-year demotion in Andalib-Goortani’s rank from first-class constable to fourth-class, which would include a salary cut of approximately $30,000.

But retired justice Lee Ferrier ruled the assault on Nobody was “barely over the line of wrongfulness,” and the fallout from the assault has “wreaked havoc on the life of this officer,” including the loss of his house and a depression diagnosis.