A Canadian Police Force that abused citizens

                                                      

The police force I am writing about is in the City of Toronto, Canada’s largest city. I would be amiss however if I didn’t mention that in my opinion; almost all police forces in Canada and the United States have rotten cops within their police forces. Of course, in each of those police forces, the police are mostly decent and honest cops. I am now going to give you an example of a wrongdoing by a rotten member of the Toronto Police Service.

Nineteen-year-old Defonte Miller (a black man) was repeatedly  hit with a steel pipe just before 3 a.m. on December 28, 2016 in the town of Whitby in the Regional district of Durham (just east of Toronto) As a direct result of this vicious attack by Constable Michael Theriault age 25, a Toronto off-duty cop and his brother, Christian Theriault, age 21, who is a civilian, Defonte suffered from a broken orbital bone, a broken nose, a fractured wrist and damage to his left eye that was so severe, it had to be surgically removed.

 Defonte  was wrongfully charged with theft under $5,000, two counts of assault with a weapon, possession of a weapon and possession related to marijuana, however all the charges were withdrawn following a pretrial hearing on May 5, 2017.

It is not unusual for phony charges being laid by police officers who have severely injured a civilian. This is what I suspect was the reason why these charges were laid in the first place. The cop thought that the phony assault charge would justify the beating given to Defonte. He obviously thought wrong like most police goons do. 

Ask yourself why this off-duty cop from the city where he is a police officer was investigating a civilian in another city. This certainly doesn’t pass the smell test.

What really happened was that Defonte and two friends were walking down Erickson Drive in Whitby, headed to the home of another friend, when two men wearing street clothes they didn’t know tried to confront them and then the two men began chasing them with one of the two men carrying a metal pipe. Defonte’s friends managed to escape, but he was not so fortunate.

Const. Michael Theriault, and Christian Theriault, both faced charges of aggravated assault, assault with a weapon (the iron pipe) and public mischief. The last charge relates to the phony report given to the police in Whitby where these assault and other crimes were committed by Michael Theriault and his younger brother.

This marked the first time that Ontario’s police watchdog, Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has laid charges against a civilian who has never before worked as a police officer. There is no doubt in my mind that this rotten cop and his rotten bother will both eventually be going to prison for these crimes  they committed and rightly so.

As result of a foolish decision by the Durham Regional Police Force, it didn’t issue a warrant for the arrest of the two perps.  That makes the persons who should have ordered the arrest of the two criminals that attacked Defonte as being totally stupid as far as I am concerned. Avoiding to issue an arrest warrant for two criminals when one is a police officer is outrageous.  The motive behind that kind of thinking is the protection of the police blue line. 

Marin, who served as Ontario’s ombudsman for a decade starting in 2005, and was also a SIU director from 1996 to 1998 said, “It’s not a case of negligence. There’s a deliberate thought process,”

Defonte frantically banged on the door of a home on Erickson Drive that night, looking for help from the homeowner who actually witnessed part of the alleged beating. But the Durham Regional Police never even contacted that person to interview him. Why not? This is another example of the Durham Regional Police Force protecting their own.

Toronto Police spokesperson Meaghan Gray said an experienced SIU Liaison Officer who works for Toronto Police was notified of the incident on the day it occurred, (December 28, 2016). The Liaison officer however determined it did not meet the mandate of the SIU after looking at all of the information available at the time. HOG WASH.

I am convinced that that man was given information that one of the Toronto cops seriously assaulted a citizen in Whitby and that the citizen had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. Not serious enough? Give me a break.  Whose ass was he protecting?

The Durham Regional Police Force should have also informed SIU since they knew that one of perps was a Toronto Police officer even when the crimes were committed in their Region and not in Toronto.

Asked why Durham police didn’t contact the police watchdog, Durham Regional Police said “It is the responsibility of the police service that employs the involved officer to contact the SIU.” That is true but suppose the Toronto police didn`t do that and Durham Regional Police didn`t do it and the Durham Regional Police didn’t arrest the two goons, then these two goons would have gone unpunished.

Currently, legislation requires only that the police chief of an offending officer involved in an incident that took place in Durham Region should be the one that SIU That would mean that the Toronto Police Service would have to contact SIU which they did.

It is ironic when you think of it. Why can’t a police force in one city where the police crime is committed not be able to report the crime to SIU if the cop isn’t one of their own cops when an ordinary citizen who has been seriously injured or raped by a police officer can complain directly to the SIU?

From now on, Durham Regional Police will contact the Special Investigations Unit even if the officer involved in the incident is not one of their own. To quote an often quoted German saying; “Too Smart, Too late.”

The change is a result of the service’s administrative review, undertaken following the incident in Whitby in December of 2016 when Dafonte Miller was beaten.  

Toronto police officer, Michael Theriault is currently suspended with pay and his brother, Christian Theriault who is not a police officer and who lives in Whitby were both released on bail with conditions attached.

As is the usual practice by the police in Toronto, Michael Theriault will be required to report to police headquarters and sign in twice a day, seven days a week. That means he can’t take on another job or go on vacation out of town. How sad. Can you hear my crockadile tears dropping on the floor?  Further, the Theriault brothers’ revised bail conditions forbid them from possessing weapons, contacting Defonte or his family, or contacting any members of the Durham police who may be involved in the investigation.

Years ago, a young man riding his two-wheeled bike was looking for the house his friend lived in on a particular street. He knocked on every door making enquiries. When he was at one door, no one answered and as he was walking back to the sidewalk where his bike was, it was then that a car pulled up. Inside it was the owner of the house. He was a Toronto Police Service sergeant. He presumed that the man who was walking on the walkway leading to his home had burglarized his home so he dragged him into the car and beat him so badly;  he broke the jaw of the innocent man. The cop was convicted of the assault and sentenced to three years in prison.

When I learn what the final outcome of this particular case is, I will add it onto the end of this article. 

In another article, I will write about other cases of brutality by certain police officers of the Toronto Police Service. Alas, there are many instances where this kind of conduct took place by some of the rotten police officers employed by the Toronto Police Service.