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According to the Toronto Police Service’s own guidelines, interactions by its officers with the public must be “ethical, bias-free and mutually respectful.”
It’s an admirable goal, one that was plainly not met this week when officers confronted 32-year-old Waseem Khan, ordered him to stop filming an arrest, and threatened to seize his phone.
All that flies in the face of well-established law that makes it perfectly legal for citizens to photograph or video police going about their business in a public place.
The police force itself readily acknowledges that bystanders are free to video officers, as long as they don’t interfere with or obstruct police. Spokesperson Mark Pugash told the Star that the force has told its officers that citizens “have every right to film.”
Clearly, the message isn’t getting through to everyone. The force’s professional standards unit will be looking into the incident. And from the plain evidence of the video, reprimands will be in order for officers who blatantly ignored the law and threatened a peaceful citizen who was simply witnessing an arrest from a safe distance. Nothing in the video suggests he was interfering with or obstructing police.
But what about what the video reveals about how police handled the arrest itself?
It shows a male suspect lying face down on the street, motionless and pinned in place by five burly officers. One officer apparently fires a Taser at the man on the ground, then stomps on him several times and yells “stop resisting!”
The video shows no resistance. In fact, it shows no movement of any kind by the suspect, who lies quietly on the ground.
To stipulate: the video does not show what went on before or after. Police say the suspect bit one of the officers, and the video doesn’t show that.
Khan, who recorded the video, says he started filming because he “saw a cop kick this guy in the head.” And he told the Star he doesn’t believe the suspect was biting anyone because he “was out. He didn’t move one muscle in his body.”
It’s fine to give officers a slap on the wrist for disrespecting citizens’ right to video police. But this incident should not be treated only as a “teaching moment” for police themselves. From the evidence of the video and what Khan told the Star, there are ample grounds to ask whether the officers involved used undue force on a suspect who was already subdued and unresisting.
The Toronto Police Service itself should not let this go by. And anyone can trigger an outside investigation by lodging a complaint with the provincial Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD), which looks into allegations of wrongdoing by police.
Video is powerful. On New Year’s Day two Toronto police officers were filmed handling a mentally disturbed woman with admirable patience and professionalism. They won well-deserved praise.
Now we have video evidence of something more disturbing. A proper investigation is needed, with public disclosure of the conclusions to follow.
This incident should not be treated only as a “teaching moment” for police