2012-02-22
There are no new stories to be told—just new twists on old news. Today we learn that yet another Toronto Police officer is being accused of abusing a man's civil rights during the G20 summit in Toronto during July 2010. From the Globe and Mail:
Nicholas dePencier Wright is seeking $25,000 in damages, plus other fees, in small claims court for a run-in with police on June 27, 2010, the second day of G20 meetings at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The lawsuit follows a probe by the province’s police watchdog, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, in which investigators substantiated Mr. dePencier Wright’s claim that he was unlawfully arrested.
Mr. dePencier Wright said he was riding his bicycle eastbound on Bloor Street West, near Spadina Avenue, when Constable Ryan Simpson stopped him. Mr. de Pencier Wright provided identification, but otherwise invoked his right to silence. He was searched, handcuffed, placed in the back of a police cruiser and released in about 20 minutes.
And according to the Toronto Star, Simpson has a pretty broad impression of what his duties were that weekend, having told the OIPRD "Is he, you know, a violent offender? Maybe. Is he not? I don’t know at that point, right?" Such certainty clearly makes handcuffs necessary!
At this point, anyone in Toronto has to wonder when the drumbeat of lawsuits, investigations and other unpleasantness will actually end. Maybe this is something we could all bet on when the Province puts a casino in Toronto somewhere.