Police investigating third St. Mike’s incident

Private school took a day to tell TPS it possessed video showing alleged sexual assault of student

Warning: This article contains graphic content

Toronto police are investigating “a number of occurrences involving incidents of alleged assaultive and sexually assaultive behaviour” at St. Michael’s College School, according to a media statement released Friday.

This comes as officials at the boys’ private school confirmed they took a full day to notify police about a graphic video showing an alleged sexual assault on a student, according to a statement and timeline released by the school.

The elite institution on Friday revealed a “third incident” is now being investigated, but did not provide details.

In its statement, it also said eight students have been expelled and one suspended for two separate severe violations of the Student Code of Conduct.

Toronto police spokesperson Caroline de Kloet would not comment further on the nature of the alleged incidents, nor how many they are investigating.

The news release by police notes that officers “believe there may be other victims and witnesses and are encouraging anyone who has not yet spoken to investigators to come forward.”

The Star reached out to the school’s administration repeatedly for comment on Thursday and Friday, but was unsuccessful.

Late last week, two videos began circulating on social media sites. The Star viewed both.

One 49-second video, shot in the boys’ washroom, shows a young boy in his underwear — he appears not to be injured — placed in a large sink by other boys, who splash water on him and slap him.

Another video, lasting 22 seconds, of a different boy, shows the young teen held down by a group of boys in a locker room while he is allegedly sexually assaulted with what appears to be a broomstick.

Police have warned that anyone in possession of the video should delete it immediately because it meets the definition of child pornography.

Following days of confusion about who knew what and when, the school released a timeline on Friday, providing details. The administration says it received the video showing the alleged sexual assault on Monday evening, but did not notify police, nor did it hand over the video until Wednesday, after the school completed its internal investigation.

That’s the same day that the allegations about the video went public.

De Kloet said officers from 13 Division and the Child and Youth Advocacy Centre were made aware of the alleged sexual assault on Wednesday morning from the media.

The school says it received a video Monday morning of the boys’ washroom and then contacted police. That evening, they saw the other video, of the boy being allegedly assaulted in the locker room.

None of the victims notified administration about what happened.

The school had two separate assemblies for parents on Friday afternoon. The principal explained he was busy on Tuesday meeting with parents whose children were involved in the washroom incident, which resulted in the expulsion of four students that day.

The next day, he said, he notified police to tell them about the other video of the locker room, by which point media was beginning to make inquiries about it to police. On Wednesday, four boys were expelled because of what happened in the locker room, and one boy was suspended in relation to the washroom incident.

According to its statement, the school has brought in crisis counsellors and security.

The administration has met with members of the Junior football team and their parents.