Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Toronto police Chief Bill Blair's big mouth causes reopening of G20 misconduct probe


Oppsie!

Ontario's police oversight agency is reopening an investigation into alleged police misconduct in the case of a man who suffered facial fractures while being arrested at a G20 protest in Toronto.

The Special Investigations Unit said in a Tuesday release it will take a fresh look at the case of Adam Nobody, 27, whose nose and cheekbone were broken during a June 26 protest at Queen's Park.

The SIU's initial investigation determined that excessive force was "probably" used, but it couldn't determine which specific officer was responsible for causing the injuries.

In arriving at that conclusion, the SIU interviewed a civilian witness and eight officer witnesses, as well as reviewing a video of the arrest that was posted on YouTube.

The video shows about a half-dozen police officers chasing and then tackling Nobody at Queen's Park. SIU director Ian Scott said the video appeared to show one of the officers striking Nobody repeatedly while he was on the ground.

Toronto police Chief Bill Blair criticized the SIU for using a video that he said had been edited and "tampered with."

"The evidence that they're relying on is false," Blair told CBC Radio's Metro Morning on Monday.


Read more here.

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