An investigation into the alleged police beating of G20 protester Adam Nobody has been closed with no further arrests.
The Special Investigations Unit found no reasonable grounds to charge any other Toronto police officer in the incident.
In December, the SIU charged Const. Babak Andalib-Goortani with assault with a weapon in the case. The investigation then continued to identify other officers involved.
A Toronto police probe identified three officers who appeared to participate in the beating. Their names were given to the SIU but they declined to be interviewed, as is their right.
The SIU interviewed a total of 17 officers Toronto police said were present at Nobody’s arrest. They also interviewed four supervisory officers.
In a statement on Monday, SIU director Ian Scott said none of the interviewees could identify the three officers in question.
“No individual, police or civilian, can point to any of the three remaining subject officers under investigation depicted in the videos or still photographs striking Mr. Nobody, and making a positive identification,” he said.
The SIU also interviewed two officers in charge of the Toronto Police Service’s internal investigation. But their answers did not yield enough evidence to charge anyone, Scott said.
“While they both provided some circumstantial evidence of identity of the subject officers in question, I am of the view that it is so weak that it fails to meet the test of probable grounds to believe an identified officer committed a criminal offence.”
Nobody claims he was beaten twice by police: on camera when he was arrested and off-camera by two plainclothes officers behind police vans. He suffered a fracture below his right eye.
He declined to comment on the investigation. But his lawyer, Julian Falconer, said on Monday his client is “frustrated, but not surprised anymore.”
Falconer said the case is the latest example of the police force’s lack of cooperation with SIU investigators.
“It is exceedingly apparent that when it comes to the G20, the Toronto Police Service has successfully stymied SIU,” he said. “From my client’s perspective this has always been about this blue wall of silence that operates to protect fellow officers.”
An initial SIU investigation of the arrest based on a YouTube video concluded that excessive force was used, but produced no charges. The investigation was reopened in November after a second, clearer video emerged.
Origin
Source: Toronto Star
The Special Investigations Unit found no reasonable grounds to charge any other Toronto police officer in the incident.
In December, the SIU charged Const. Babak Andalib-Goortani with assault with a weapon in the case. The investigation then continued to identify other officers involved.
A Toronto police probe identified three officers who appeared to participate in the beating. Their names were given to the SIU but they declined to be interviewed, as is their right.
The SIU interviewed a total of 17 officers Toronto police said were present at Nobody’s arrest. They also interviewed four supervisory officers.
In a statement on Monday, SIU director Ian Scott said none of the interviewees could identify the three officers in question.
“No individual, police or civilian, can point to any of the three remaining subject officers under investigation depicted in the videos or still photographs striking Mr. Nobody, and making a positive identification,” he said.
The SIU also interviewed two officers in charge of the Toronto Police Service’s internal investigation. But their answers did not yield enough evidence to charge anyone, Scott said.
“While they both provided some circumstantial evidence of identity of the subject officers in question, I am of the view that it is so weak that it fails to meet the test of probable grounds to believe an identified officer committed a criminal offence.”
Nobody claims he was beaten twice by police: on camera when he was arrested and off-camera by two plainclothes officers behind police vans. He suffered a fracture below his right eye.
He declined to comment on the investigation. But his lawyer, Julian Falconer, said on Monday his client is “frustrated, but not surprised anymore.”
Falconer said the case is the latest example of the police force’s lack of cooperation with SIU investigators.
“It is exceedingly apparent that when it comes to the G20, the Toronto Police Service has successfully stymied SIU,” he said. “From my client’s perspective this has always been about this blue wall of silence that operates to protect fellow officers.”
An initial SIU investigation of the arrest based on a YouTube video concluded that excessive force was used, but produced no charges. The investigation was reopened in November after a second, clearer video emerged.
Origin
Source: Toronto Star
No comments:
Post a Comment