Fire officers who mocked daughter, family urges
TORONTO • Two Toronto police officers who were recorded mocking a 29-year-old woman with Down syndrome should lose their jobs, the woman’s mother said Tuesday as the pair faced a disciplinary hearing.
Const. Sasa Sljivo and Const. Matthew Saris made a brief appearance at a police tribunal before their case was adjourned to Sept. 19.
Sljivo is charged with misconduct related to the use of profane, abusive or insulting language, while Saris is charged with misconduct related to the failure to report Sljivo’s comments, which contravened the Ontario Human Rights Code, police documents show.
The officers had previously issued a written apology, calling the Nov. 5, 2016, incident a “lapse in judgment.”
But Pamela Munoz, whose daughter Francie was the subject of the comments, said that’s not enough. She said the officers should at least apologize in person, though she believes a harsher penalty is warranted.
“In our heart, a great outcome would have been for them to leave the Toronto Police Service, because it’s shameful for our police officers to feel that way,” she said after the hearing.
The family’s lawyer, Faisal Bhabha, said the comments referring to Francie as a “halfperson” were captured by the police vehicle’s dashboard camera.
The family heard the comments because they decided to fight the ticket and requested the evidence against them, he said.