‘They did not look at me’
Francie Munoz and her mother were hoping for a face-to-face apology from the two officers caught on video mocking Munoz, who has Down syndrome. At their tribunal yesterday, the two men walked past her without a glance.
Staring straight ahead, never once looking back at the woman they were caught mocking or her phalanx of supporters, the two Toronto police officers accused of professional misconduct for spouting insults captured on their own cruiser’s dash camera appeared before a disciplinary hearing Tuesday.
Constables Sasa Sljivo and Matthew Saris are charged under the Police Services Act after they laughed and called Francie Munoz, a 29-year-old woman with Down syndrome, a half woman and a “little disfigured” in comments to each other during a traffic stop.
Their words and chuckles were discovered after her mother, Pamela Munoz, fought an alleged traffic violation and later obtained dash cam video from the traf- fic stop in November 2016. The audio also recorded one of the officers referring to her daughter as “different.”
The officers, dressed in dark blue suits, made their first, brief appearance before the police disciplinary tribunal, which was packed with Munoz’s family and friends, including some with Down syndrome and their relatives.
The officers quickly left the hearing room after the minutes-long appearance, averting their eyes.
“I looked at them,” Francie Munoz said afterward. “They did not look at me.”
Toronto police documents detailing the charges allege that Sljivo was the officer doing the talking. He faces two charges under the Police Act: one for allegedly using “profane, abusive or insulting language” in contravention of the Ontario Human Rights Code and Toronto police policy, procedures and standards of conduct, and the second for allegedly acting in a disorderly manner likely to discredit Toronto police.
Saris faces one count for allegedly being “complicit” in Sljivo’s comments and failing to report his conduct to a superior. Neither officer entered a plea Tuesday. Last month, Sljivo and Saris sent a letter to the family apologizing for their “inexcusable remarks” and taking full responsibility.
Soon after the incident came to light, Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders addressed the officers’ comments, telling CP24 that they were not a “fair representation of what goes on on a day-today basis.” Saunders also apologized to the family in person.
However, the written apology from the two officers themselves did not seem sincere, Pamela Munoz said. The family had asked for them to apologize in person and wanted their comments to be captured on video. If the officers were willing to do that, Munoz said, they would withdraw their complaint to the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, which had resulted in the misconduct charges.
The officers, however, had not agreed to the family’s terms.
Mike McCormack, president of the Toronto Police Association (TPA), said last month that Sljivo and Saris had made repeated attempts to arrange an in-person meeting with Francie Munoz and her family, and that the officers “have accepted responsibility for their comments from the beginning.”
“They have taken a lot of justified criticism from the public and their peers and regret their comments,” McCormack told the Star last month.
McCormack added Tuesday that the TPA has arranged a meeting with the Down Syndrome Association of Ontario in September.
Professional misconduct charges before the police tribunal can result in penalties ranging from a reprimand to dismissal. After the hearing Tuesday, Pamela Munoz told reporters she hopes for the latter, though she doubts that will occur.
“In our hearts, a great outcome would have been for them to leave the Toronto Police Service because it’s shameful for police officers to feel that way,” she said.
The family feels buoyed by friends and supporters standing alongside them at the hearing, she continued, particularly relatives of other people with disabilities.
“It doesn’t just affect us. It affects our community,” she said. “(Other parents) are frightened about the repercussions: Will our kids be looked at differently by the police, will they not take care of them if they need help?” she said.
Faisal Bhabha, Munoz’s lawyer, said the family is participating in the pro- cess to ensure her voice is heard throughout. The family also wants a “guarantee that this won’t happen again in the future — that there aren’t more officers who hold these attitudes,” he said after the hearing.
It is not Sljivo’s first time coming under fire for comments made on the job. In 2013, the officer testified in court that he had stripped “hundreds” of people completely naked during searches — despite police policy stating that must not be done and a Supreme Court ruling stating no one should be stripped completely naked during a search.
The Supreme Court’s rules are intended to maintain the dignity of the person being searched. Toronto police policy stipulates that once a piece of clothing is removed, the person is searched along with the clothing, then it must be replaced before the officer performing the search removes another item of clothing.
The officer’s admission came during a drug trafficking trial, after which the judge raised concerns about the officer’s statements.
Sljivo was not charged under the Police Services Act in connection to his strip search comments.
Sljivo and Saris are due back before the tribunal next month. The Munoz family is also filing a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. Wendy Gillis can be reached at wgillis@thestar.ca.
“It doesn’t just affect us. It affects our community. (Other parents) are frightened about the repercussions.” PAMELA MUNOZ FRANCIE’S MOTHER