The Star spoke with two men who said they witnessed the Jan. 11, 2011, arrest of James Bishop on basketball courts at the Scarborough YMCA.
One said his mobile phone was taken and never returned. The other said he “felt intimidated” when police surrounded him, handed an officer his phone, which moments later was returned to him. He says the video he shot of the arrest was deleted.
Both men asked not to be identified, saying they didn’t want trouble with the police.
The man who had his mobile phone returned, an entrepreneur in his 20s, said he used his phone to make a video of the arrest. He can be seen on YMCA security video apparently doing so. At one point, YMCA staff members appear to block his attempt to document the arrest, which involved multiple officers, multiple baton and elbow blows and pepper spray.
Later, an officer is seen confronting the man with the phone, chest to chest.
“He just pretty much asked for the phone. I kind of felt intimidated so I just gave him the cellphone,” said the man.
The officer, a sergeant, can be seen walking away from the man and appears to be looking at the phone’s screen. After briefly conferring with other officers, he hands the phone back to the man.
The video was “not on it. It’s gone,” the man told the Star.
Both men knew Bishop before the incident.
Bishop is suing Toronto police and the YMCA over his arrest for trespassing in what was the culmination of years of disputes with the YMCA over his behaviour.
His membership was under suspension at the time of arrest and he had previously been warned by police not to go back to the YMCA. On Jan. 11, 2011, he went with his son and refused to leave.
Police were called. YMCA video shows four officers approaching Bishop on the court, where he was shooting baskets with his 11-year-old son. After again refusing to leave, he is arrested in a violent takedown.
In a recently filed statement of defence, Toronto police deny many of Bishop’s claims, including an allegation that police “acted in a reprehensible, alarming and intimidating fashion, by seizing from the onlookers, their cellphones and proceeded to erase images. One onlooker’s phone was seized and was never given back to him.”
The statement of defence makes no direct mention of this specific allegation but in a broader denial of allegations, it states police “deny the balance of the allegations or claims … and put the plaintiffs to the strict proof thereof.”
Bishop, his wife and son are named as plaintiffs. They are seeking $2.3 million in damages.
Bishop is alleging police used excessive force. “He begged the officers to stop at one point because he could not breathe,” the suit alleges.
Police spokesperson Mark Pugash said it would be inappropriate to comment while the case is before the courts.
Police alleged he tried to bite an arresting officer and assaulted another. Although charged, he was not convicted.
The 43-year-old personal trainer was taken to hospital following his arrest. Medical records indicate the he suffered a mild heart attack.
Whatever harm or damages alleged to be caused, police said in their statement of defence, they “were not caused by any fault, neglect, negligence” or “breach of duty” by police.
Police contend Bishop’s claim, “in whole or in part, is scandalous, frivolous and vexatious and that the defendants “reserve the right to have all or a portion of the Statement of Claim struck out. …”
Osborne Barnwell, Bishop’s lawyer, called the police contention that whatever harm that came to his client not then fault of police “simply ridiculous.”
“I guess they are saying that, somehow, if you do not leave when told to do so, you should expect police to beat you down,” he said in an email to the Star.
In its own statement of defence, the YMCA denies Bishop’s allegations and details a history of problems Bishop had with YMCA rules, staff and other members. It also alleges he spoke of having guns on the day of his arrest, was “out of control,” and said that he would show “his evil side.”
The document does not directly deal with an allegation a staff member tried to block a YMCA member from documenting the arrest, other than pointing out that the staff member’s name was misspelled in the claim.
However, according to police notes of a statement she gave following the arrest, an officer at one point began “screaming at me to get everyone out of the gym, but they wouldn’t go. I saw one guy had a cellphone camera out, so I tried to block him telling him that he couldn’t film inside the YMCA. But he wouldn’t listen.”
None of Bishop’s allegations, nor any of the police and YMCA counter allegations, have been proven in court.
The case has gained attention in the court of public opinion — both supportive and critical of police — since the Star first wrote about Bishop this summer and posted an annotated version of the security video online. The video had been earlier posted to YouTube by a friend of Bishop’s but without identifying him or providing context.
Bishop was charged with trespassing and assaulting police with intent to resist arrest. Before his June court appearance, he was charged again, this time with intimidating one of the arresting officers outside court.
“There are lots of guns on the streets, I am not scared of you,” Bishop told officers, according to his own claim. Police allege it was more menacing, saying he told one officer, “You’ll see. I’ll find you.”
All of the charges from the YMCA and courthouse incidents were withdrawn in October 2011, when Bishop agreed to enter into a $500 peace bond.
In an interview last summer, Bishop acknowledged his mouth had gotten him into trouble in the past but he stressed that he was not violent on the day of the YMCA arrest. “I’d like police to be retrained to deal with people like myself, that are boisterous,” said Bishop. “Learn to calm people down and talk to them. Don’t start by beating them.”
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Jim Rankin
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