When an officer stopped a councillor: Verdict expected in police case

Two years to the day after Coun. Matthew Green was stopped while waiting for a bus, the officer who questioned the black city councillor is expected to learn his fate in a disciplinary case.

Const. Andrew Pfeifer faces a discreditable conduct charge under the Police Services Act after being accused of arbitrarily stopping Green on Victoria Avenue South on April 26, 2016.

The hearing officer, retired deputy chief Terence Kelly, is scheduled to deliver his verdict at the Sheraton Hamilton Hotel on Thursday at 10:30 a.m.

The case — heard over four days last September, followed by closing arguments Nov. 16 — was highly-charged:

Green and his lawyer claimed the case was racial profiling. Pfeifer and his lawyer claimed there was no offence, just a police officer doing his job.

Each side accused the other of being the aggressor.

The hearing heard that Green was waiting for a bus near Stinson Street, and was standing across the road from his bus stop by an overpass to shield himself from wind.

He argued that Pfiefer stopped his cruiser across the street and questioned him aggressively through the window about what he was doing there and where he was going.

Green said that tone only changed once he recognized who Green was. Green testified he felt “psychologically detained” and “humiliated.”

Pfeifer, however, argued that Green stuck out as a man who was well-dressed but underdressed for the weather, standing in a “puddle of mud” and turning his head back and forth.

He said he was concerned for Green’s mental health, and Green responded aggressively to questions. Once Green said his name and Pfeifer realized he was talking to a city councillor, he said he believed Green was OK.

At no point did Pfeifer exit the vehicle, ask Green for identification or record Green’s information for the purpose of including it in a police database, he said.

This was not carding, argued Pfeifer’s lawyer Bernard Cummins, who later called Green a “combative and cocky witness.”

Police prosecutor Brian Duxbury never mentioned race throughout the proceedings, but did argue the stop was unjustified and lasted too long.

Pfiefer not only denied the stop had anything to do with racial profiling, but denied being aware of racial profiling being an issue within Hamilton police.

For Green and his lawyer, Wade Poziemka, the case has always been about a wider discussion about systemic racism.

“It’s never been about identifying or vilifying an individual officer,” Green said.