Cop acquitted of theft from dead man

A Toronto police officer has been found not guilty of stealing money from a dead man, after an Ontario judge found most of his evidence was “not worthy of belief” but was left with “a nagging doubt” about his actions, and had to acquit.

“If this were a civil matter where the standard of proof is on a balance of probabilities, I would have very little hesitation in finding guilt. But that is not the standard,” said Ontario Court Justice Feroza Bhabha, who gave her reasons for judgment via Zoom on Monday.

Const. Daniel Han, an officer with 13 years on the job, was charged with breach of trust and theft under $5,000 after taking $360 in cash from the scene of a sudden-death call at a Parkdale highrise in March 2019.

Han was the first officer to arrive after residents reported an odour emanating from an apartment, leading to the discovery of a decomposing body.

At issue during Han’s brief trial was whether he pocketed the wad of cash in his pants for safekeeping, then forgot about it for two weeks — as he claimed on the stand — or intentionally stole 18 $20 bills, as argued by the Crown prosecutor.

Court heard that while he was inside the apartment, Han took 56 photos of the scene but did not snap one of the money, which had been on the deceased man’s night table. The officer also did not place the cash in a property bag nor did he mention the money in an occurrence report.

Han had made note of putting the money in his pants’ pocket in his memo book, but that entry — “$360 left side pocket” — was written in different ink than the rest of the notes on the page. Han told the court he carried multiple different pens with him on calls.

The judge also noted that, while the Crown lawyers had part of Han’s notebook forensically examined by the Centre of Forensic Sciences, which picked up the ink discrepancy, “the rest of the notebook was not examined to see if in fact this entry was the only entry in a different ink.”

Bhabha also questioned why Han was not cross-examined by the Crown on what he was doing during two 15-minute periods on April 1, 2019 — the day he was confronted about the whereabouts of the cash — when he would have had the opportunity to make an afterthe-fact note in his memo book, as the Crown alleged.

Han is currently suspended with pay from the Toronto police. He still faces non-criminal professional misconduct charges under Ontario’s Police Services Act in connection to the incident, including for “corrupt practice” for allegedly failing to promptly return the money, tribunal documents say.

The allegations have not been tested at the tribunal.