Tory blasts alleged highrise bottle tossers

Seven charged under Reopening Ontario Act after Sunday incident

An illegal gathering that saw bottles tossed from the balcony of a downtown Toronto highrise Sunday afternoon is being slammed as an “irresponsible” and “unacceptable” echo of another notorious incident.

The incident “ranks right up there with ‘chair girl,’ ” Mayor John Tory told reporters Monday afternoon, referring to a February 2019 incident in which a woman was filmed tossing a patio chair from an apartment balcony not far from the Sunday incident at York Street and Bremner Boulevard.

The bottle-tossing case is “just being among the most grossly irresponsible acts that we’ve seen during the course of the pandemic,” Tory said.

Toronto police were called to ICE condominiums at 14 York St. at 2:35 p.m. over calls about a party at a short-term rental on the 35th floor.

In a news release, police said glass bottles were thrown from the balcony to the road below, narrowly missing officers on the ground.

A total of seven people were charged with failing to comply with emergency orders under the Reopening Ontario Act, while four were charged criminally.

Spokesperson David Hopkinson said the incident “remains an ongoing investigation and it does not mean further charges cannot be added at a later date — both provincially and criminally.”

The 2019 incident also involved a short-term rental.

Fire Chief Matthew Pegg, who is overseeing the city’s pandemic enforcement efforts, said it’s clear such gatherings contribute to the spread of COVID-19.

“To me, it’s simply irresponsible. It’s unacceptable. It has the net impact of placing lives at risk, placing the capacity of our health care system at risk,” he said Monday.

Bahar Shadpour from the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario said she is “absolutely not surprised” to hear about another incident at a short-term rental.

Shadpour said online platforms have continued to allow short-term rental bookings during the pandemic.

“Many of the residents in the ICE condos reach out to us saying they feel stuck in this building that is just being run over by partiers and people who do not care that there is the pandemic and health and safety issues,” she said.

ICE condo property management did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Airbnb spokesperson Ben Breit told the Star the platform has no listings on the 35th floor of the building where the Sunday incident happened, adding that: “All of the current reservations in that building through Airbnb are long-term stays” of 28 days or more.

City spokesperson Andrea Gonsalves said a team from the city’s short-term rental program is focusing on the owner of the unit and how the apartment was listed as a short-term rental.

Short-term rental operators convicted in violation of regulations can receive fines of up to $100,000, Gonsalves said.

Between Jan. 1 and 24, the city received 96 complaints related to short-term rentals, she said.

Four people have been charged with one count each of common nuisance, mischief endangering life, assaulting a peace officer with a weapon, and possession of a Schedule 1 substance.

They are Santiago Marquez, 22; Diego Caro Osorio, 23; and Jeison Torres, 37, all of Toronto; and Giraldo Angel, 22, of Hamilton.

They were scheduled to appear in court Monday morning.

Marcella Zoia, the woman filmed tossing the chair in the February 2019 incident, eventually pleaded guilty to a charge of mischief endangering life. Last July, she was sentenced to pay a $2,000 fine, perform 150 hours of community service and remain on probation for two years.