Cop’s lawyer contradicts teen’s testimony in ‘Neptune Four’ case
Audio and surveillance video paint starkly different story of four Black teens’ arrests
A lawyer for a Toronto police officer accused of professional wrongdoing in the 2011 arrest of four Black teens presented video and audio evidence that appeared to contradict some details of the main complainant’s testimony at a police tribunal Wednesday.
Const. Adam Lourenco, along with Const. Scharnil Pais, is accused under Ontario’s Police Services Act of unlawfully arresting the main complainant, his twin brother and two of their friends.
Lourenco faces two other charges of disorderly conduct for allegedly using unreasonable force, one for punching the main complainant and another for pointing his gun at three of the teens.
The arrests happened after they had left their homes inside a Toronto Community Housing complex on Neptune Dr., and walked toward an after-school program. All four boys were 16 or under at the time. Their identities are protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
The tribunal heard last week that the officers approached the teens and told them they matched the descriptions of suspects in a recent robbery. When the main complainant asked if he was under arrest or free to go — putting to use knowledge he’d recently gained at a seminar on his rights in police encounters — he alleges Lourenco became violent, punching him several times in the abdomen and head, knocking him to the ground, then drawing his weapon.
Lourenco allegedly cut his own thumb and wiped blood on the main complainant, telling him, “Look, you just assaulted a police officer.”
Const. Adam Lourenco’s lawyer presented surveillance video, audio clips that showed some details of main complainant’s testimony had been incorrect
The officers have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
While cross-examining the main complainant Wednesday, Lourenco’s lawyer, Lawrence Gridin, presented surveillance video and audio clips that demonstrated some details of the main complainant’s testimony had been incorrect.
The young man, now 21, had testified that when Lourenco called for backup to assist with the teens’ arrest, the constable told dispatch that there was an “officer down” or officer injured. A recording of Lourenco’s radio call showed that the officer did not use those terms nor did he otherwise indicate there was an officer in distress.
The main complainant had testified that, after he was taken into police custody for the night, officers ignored his requests for medical attention after being arrested and booked at a police station.
Surveillance video from the police station, however, showed a booking officer asking the young man if he had any health issues, to which the youth replied he did not.
The youth told the tribunal Wednesday that he understood the officer to mean long-term health conditions, not fresh injuries.
Another video, of the young man being entered into a cell for the night, shows a different officer asking him if he is healthy, to which the young man replied that he was.
The main complainant had testified that he was not allowed access to a washroom while being held in police custody overnight.
However, stills from a surveillance tape in the holding cells showed that there was a toilet in the young man’s cell.
The complainant also testified that Lourenco took his cellphone during the arrest, but video of the young man being booked at a police station showed he still had his cellphone and turned it over to a booking officer at the station.
During his cross-examination of the complainant, Gridin set out his client’s version of events, almost entirely different from the one presented by the complainant in his own testimony.
Lourenco and Pais approached the boys calmly and asked to see their identification, Gridin said. The officers never mentioned anything about the boys resembling robbery suspects, the lawyer added.
The main complainant, who said he did not have ID on him at the time, cursed at Lourenco and refused to answer his questions, leading to Lourenco arresting him for trespassing, Gridin said.
Lourenco put a hand on the complainant and the complainant spat on him, Gridin alleged.
Lourenco then began pushing the complainant back, away from the other teens, and telling him he will be arrested for assaulting an officer, Gridin added.
The complainant refused to present his hands to be cuffed, at which point Lourenco punched him one time in the abdomen and “took him to the ground,” Gridin said.
Lourenco cut his thumb accidentally, and then inadvertently got some of his blood on the complainant while handcuffing him, he said. The complainant said he disagreed with Gridin’s version of events. With files from Wendy Gillis