An investigation by Toronto police found that one of their officers used unnecessary force when arresting a protester at the clearing of a homeless camp in July. He substantiated claims that the officer over-tightened the protester’s handcuffs and tried to erase a lawyer’s number from his arm.
The findings come months after Alicia Soerensen, who was at Lamport Stadium on July 21 to protest a clearing of a city-run homeless camp, filed a formal complaint about the officers’ actions with the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD). His complaint was subsequently investigated by the Toronto Police Service’s professional standards team.
Toronto police confirmed Friday that its professional standards unit had completed an investigation into an OIPRD complaint. Spokesperson Connie Osborne wrote in an email that the documents obtained by Star appeared to be the same findings sent to the agency.
In them, Det. Thomas Reimer found enough evidence, after reviewing body-worn camera images, medical records and other evidence, to validate two of Soerensen’s five complaints. Both involved the same 51st Division officer, Const. Joseph Jaksa.
The Star’s attempts to contact Jaksa directly for comment since Friday were unsuccessful.
The investigation found reasonable grounds to believe that Jaksa had excessively tightened the handcuffs around Soerensen’s wrist, causing “significant and unwarranted pain,” and that he had attempted to rub the phone number written on his arm to make it unreadable, the report states. amounting to misconduct, illegal or unnecessary exercise of authority, and discredited conduct.
The report included a summary of a statement from Jaksa, in which he denied attempting to smear the phone number, saying that he “gently twisted the skin” on Soerensen’s arm with his thumb so that another officer could read and document the number. Jaksa also denied using unnecessary or excessive force, claiming that Soerensen was trying to free himself and that he tightened and closed the handcuffs for that reason, as well as the reason for his small wrists and sweat in the heat.
The detective handling the investigation disagreed with those arguments. “Even when considering the contextual situation described by PC Jaksa, the evidence supported that the force used by PC Jaksa was not reasonable, proportionate or necessary in the circumstances of the arrest of the complainant,” wrote Reimer, noting that it was another officer who shot on Soerensen’s arm, without any action he did, which caused a hand to slip out of the handcuffs.
Reimer’s report noted that he had obtained body camera images from two officers, reviewed photographs and videos provided by Soerensen, reviewed medical treatment records, interviewed Soerensen, and obtained written notes and statements from three officers at the scene.
Medical records, from a hospital emergency department and subsequent follow-ups at a clinic, documented “deep bruising and tenderness” on Soerensen’s left hand, and both the hand and wrist needed to be locked in a splint during several weeks later.
As for the other claim, Reimer said he found Jaksa’s explanation inconsistent with the video evidence. “PC Jaksa aggressively twisted his arm and then rubbed the complainant’s arm all over the phone number five times with his gloved thumb. The video clearly showed that PC Jaksa was not attempting to stretch or “twist” the complainant’s skin to make the number legible. The video appeared to show PC Jaksa intentionally trying to smear the number, ”Reimer wrote. Attempting to do so “amounted to an attempt (to) interfere with the complainant’s right to consult with an attorney of her choice,” the report continues.
Reimer found that Soerensen’s other complaints were unfounded, including an allegation that she was illegally arrested due to yelling and insulting an officer, that she was denied the right to consult with an attorney, and that an officer made disparaging remarks toward her.
While Soerensen praised the detective who handled the investigation as “quite professional,” when speaking to the Star, he expressed concern that his allegations were being investigated by a unit within the same police service.
The report said the findings would be shared with the 51st Division unit commander for “unit-level penalty.” While Osborne, the police spokeswoman, said she could not comment on Jaksa’s specific case, she said discipline at the unit level could range from formal reprimands to lost hours and additional training.
“We must await the final outcome of the OIPRD before taking any disciplinary action,” Osborne said.
OIPRD declined to comment on the case.
Soerensen says he would ideally like to see better “de-escalation” training for officers in such circumstances, but also a rethinking of how the city runs camps.
“There is no reason for the city of Toronto to use the police force to deal with a housing crisis.”
—With files from Ben Cohen
Reference-www.thestar.com