Police misconduct hearing delayed after death One of four complainants killed; connection to case to be discussed in future
A years-long police tribunal examining the alleged misconduct of two Toronto police officers has been delayed until next month, a move coming just over a week after the fatal shooting of one of the complainants in the case.
Yohannes Brhanu, one of a group of young Black teens known as the Neptune Four, was shot dead on November 14 in what police described as an “alarming” gun battle that broke out on a quiet residential street in North York.
In a brief hearing Friday morning, police prosecutor Insp. Dominic Sinopoli said he would prepare an agreed statement of facts about the circumstances of Brhanu’s homicide, the city’s 89th of 2018.
Any relevance to the ongoing and much-delayed police hearing will then be discussed at a future date, though the complainants’ lawyer Jeff Carolin told the tribunal there was “no possible circumstance” that Brhanu’s death is pertinent.
Named after Neptune Dr., where the controversial 2011 police encounter took place, the Neptune Four case centres on the actions of two police officers from the now-disbanded Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy (TAVIS), the police unit that became notorious for its high rate of carding, the police practice of stopping and documenting people not suspected of a crime.
The four boys, 15 and 16 at the time, were leaving a Neptune Dr. housing complex, on their way to an after-school program, when they were stopped and questioned by two officers, Const. Adam Lourenco and Const. Scharnil Pais. The stop quickly escalated when one of the boys, who had attended a seminar on his rights during police interactions, asked if he was under arrest and free to go.
The tribunal has heard Lourenco threw a punch in the encounter, and then drew his weapon — an incident partially captured by a surveillance camera. The officers are facing professional misconduct charges under the Police Service Act; Lourenco is charged with using “unreasonable” force for pointing his gun at three of the boys, including Brhanu.
Both officers have pleaded not guilty. On the stand, under questioning by Carolin, Pais denied stopping the teens because they were Black.
Brhanu, who testified at the hearing last year, had been committed to seeing the case through, said Roderick Brereton, a community advocate and youth worker who met Brhanu and the three other Neptune boys through his work in the Lawrence Heights area.
“I think his goal was to have justice for when there has been injustice,” Brereton said. “To seek it and to hopefully have some kind of impact on the city at large.”
Brhanu’s death and its circumstances have stunned the young man’s family and greater community. Police told reporters last week that Brhanu appeared to be the intended target of a midnight “gun battle” that involved at least four guns. He was found unresponsive in his vehicle and died in hospital. No arrests have been made.
Homicide investigator Det. Sgt. Mike Carbone said he hopes to release more information soon after police finish reviewing surveillance footage.
In a press conference last week, Carbone said Brhanu was “found to be in possession of a loaded firearm,” information police don’t typically release about a victim.
In this case, the information was disclosed to show “the amount of firepower that was out there on that quiet residential street,” said acting Insp. Hank Idsinga, head of the homicide unit.
Asked for more information about the location of the gun, including whether it could have belonged to a passenger, Carbone told the Star this week he could not provide details, but “the gun belonged to the victim.”
Brereton said the circumstances of Brhanu’s death are still “a big question mark” and more information needs to be released before jumping to conclusions.
“It’s easy to say he was a gangster, a bad kid,” Brereton said. “That’s baloney to me.”
The outpouring of grief and support for the family in the wake of Brhanu’s death would not have occurred if he was “a person of malice and bad intent,” Brereton added.
As of Friday, a GoFundMe initiative started for Brhanu’s family has raised nearly twice the $7,000 goal to cover funeral costs. The organizer described Brhanu as a “beloved son and brother,” “an enthusiastic and ever-present uncle” and a friend to many.
He was also “a victim in a trend that is leaving broken hearts all over our city,” the post said.
Earlier this week, mourners packed into a Scarborough funeral home for Brhanu’s memorial service, the overflow room itself overflowing, staff moving furniture to create more standing room. Throughout the memorial service, some wept or let out anguished cries.
Lifelong friends lined up to speak, recalling a class clown who always had a joke at the ready and a young man who inspired others to finish school, join a sports team, meet their potential.
“He was a literal light,” one friend said.
At the funeral’s end, Brhanu’s mother rose from her seat in front of her son’s casket. Eschewing traditional black dress, she wore entirely white. She’d done this as a symbol of hope, she explained, to show that in darkness the light doesn’t let itself be overcome.
She implored mourners not to allow despair or revenge into their hearts, before her youngest child’s casket was carried away.