Date and time of incident: Sunday, June 27, 2010 around 2:30PM and@ 6:30PM
Location of incident: Illegally stopped and asked for ID(2:30PM?/Queen St. W and John St./I have video), I was also part of the mass arrested at Spadina Ave./Queen St. W
Police force involved:
Illegal stop: York Regional
Mass arrest: RCMP/OPP/TO Regional
I have video of both incidences on video by me and others from YouTube.
Stopped for ID: York Regional badge # 1817 or 1317 or 1517 (hard to see #)
Arrested: Queen/ Spadina around 6:30PM, I have the video footage, 3 cops came for me, many more processed me including a female officer who frisked me and touched my genitals.
What happened?
Stopped for ID:
I was walking down Queen St. W by myself with my video camera and video camera bag on Sunday, June 27, 2010 when as I crossed the street using the sidewalk and crosswalk I was stopped and asked for I.D. I was nowhere near the security fence and acting within the law so I asked the officer why he wants to see my I.D. and he replied “because I want to see it”, he then proceeded to tell me that he saw me yesterday down by the perimeter fence and I need to show I.D. After personally seeing an arrest for not showing your I.D. (well away from the fence) I was really hesitant on flexing my full rights as it is written the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Since seeing what was happening around the city with all the arrests for not showing I.D., I forfeited my I.D. under duress.
Incident caught on tape and uploaded to YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx5bcYtY__Y
Mass Arrests at Spadina/Queen:
I was recording the happenings of the day when a group of people gathered at the intersection of Spadina Ave. and Queen St. W. in downtown Toronto. As I was recording, the protesters, media and video journalists all were boxed in without a place of exit, we had nowhere to run. The protesters and media asked numerous officers numerous times how to get out, they either said “the other way” or “GET BACK!” and that goes for all sides of the box. We had nowhere to run to get out of the entrapment by the RCMP, OPP and local police forces as they converged on the group condensing us to a small area. I was recording the front line when an officer stepped out from behind the line, wrapped his arm around my head and said “this guy”. Two other officers stepped out and as I was being taken away I turned my head to the crowd of people and screamed “I did nothing wrong!” and at that moment I heard “take him down” and I was subsequently taken down to the ground. In the takedown my camera bag was swung around and my GPS flew out and was lost. During the same takedown the cops snapped my battery to my camera off and it was lost too. While on the ground my hands were zip-tie behind my back while a knee was between my shoulder blades and lower back. The cops then stood me up and checked my camera bag and frisked me. I told them that I was missing items of property and they did not care, they either said “too bad” or nothing at all. They proceeded to take me to an ally where I saw a bunch of people with wounds on their heads, elbows, knees and hands and I was told to sit down against the wall. I was passed off to a male cop who was told “3 cops had to take him down” and he proceeded to do his job of processing me. A minute or so passed and the male cop did not seem to know what he was doing so he called over his supervisor who happened to be a woman and she took over. First thing she did was frisk me again(witness: girl beside me petit blonde girl 19 or so with white shirt/ I have her photo in some of my footage). While being frisked by her, her hand touched my genitals as she frisked my left leg but I didn’t say anything as I did not want to get her agitated anymore than she already was. I did not get her badge number or her name but I know what she looks like. She looks like Frances McDormand, the female cop from the movie Fargo. She kept on saying how we are going to jail for the night and we will get out in the morning, how we are going to love our cheese sandwich and just being very nasty and condescending to me and the young lady beside me. This officer began to rifle through my belongings. She searched every mm of my wallet pulling everything out counted the money and stuffed everything back inside where the bills go, just made a mess of it and sealed it in a small plastic bag. She then took all of my belongings and sealed them off in a bigger plastic bag. She took off my shoes without untying the laces and searched them then told me to slip them on again. when I got to my feet I slipped on my shoes and was brought into the end of the line waiting to be transported to the holding facility. At least she gave me back my shoes, others were not so lucky. My shoes were not on all the way, my feet were just slipped inside like slippers however I did not want to break the back of my shoe so I stood on my balls of my feet. I had blisters on the balls of my feet from walking around the city of Toronto for two days, I took the pain instead of breaking the backs of my two month old shoes and having to buying new ones. When I had my shoes slipped on like that it was very painful and I told her but she did not care at all. We proceeded to stand in line for at least an hour while it was pouring rain. I looked around and almost every person was shivering including myself. While in line I was passed off to another officer who then passed me off to another officer who already had two “prisoners”, I was passed off again to a cop who only had one person and then he took over and had us both by the arm and never let go. I was never read my rights nor was I allowed to use a phone to call home or a lawyer. All I was told is that I am under arrest for something but I cannot remember. Once I got to the front of the line to enter the bus, the cops cut off my zip-tie handcuffs and put on metal ones with my hands in the front this time. They took my picture and put my belongings into the cargo bay of the bus. I board the bus and travel all the way to the back part where I sit down in the very first seat to my right(window seat), the left hand side of the bus when sitting forward. There were so many people that on our two man seat we sat three abreast and we were not the only ones as there were others who had three abreast. I looked at the guy sitting next to me in a red shirt and noticed that he did not have any shoes on, just socks, soaked socks. After a few minutes of entering the bus the police turned on the air conditioning. Since we were already cold from standing out in the pouring rain this did not help in making us comfortable to say the least. We sat on the bus for about an hour and in that time we asked the police about five or six times to turn down the A/C and they turned it up instead and we complained five to six times more. There was a female cop sitting in the corner of the back of the bus inside a little cage with a back door and we complained to her. She said to yell louder and that there is nothing she can do. After about an hour of sitting in the intersection on the bus we finally started to move. We complained again about the A/C and they turned it off half way to the holding facility. Once at the holding facility we waited out in the driveway for ten minutes before entering the bay area where there were 6 or so cages and two mobile offices. The bus was turned off and we sat on the bus for another hour. We had a guy in the back with us who was a diabetic and he starting to feel like he needed some sugar. The cops did not care and told him to wait. This gentleman voiced his distress again on several occasions however his pleas were falling on deaf ears. I might note that many of the occupants of the bus had to use the bathroom and were waiting for hours to do so. As we sat there in a closed bus the air was getting depleted of oxygen and getting very hot and hard to breathe. After numerous times trying to get the guards attention so that a door could be opened for some air flow they finally opened either a vent or the back door a little after about a half hours time after first complaining. I am not sure what they did but it made it a little easier to breathe not much but just enough that I could feel it as I inhaled. Time passed and we were taken off the bus and told to sit on the dirty floor of the detention centre in four single file lines near the back of the bay by the offices on the right hand side while facing the bay door. Ten minutes or so passed and the diabetic man raised his hand and voiced his medical condition again. A police medic came over and talked with him and took him to be treated for his condition. After a few minutes he returned and took his place back in line. About the same time police came over to assist people one by one who needed to use the bathroom. These people had to use the bathroom with no privacy at all as all the doors were taken off the portable toilets. We sat on the dirty floor for about an hour while the cops rummaged through our belongings quite roughly. They had our belongings bagged and in a pile just ahead of where we were sitting and I could see how they had little respect for the items. In the bags I personally saw multiple cameras, video and still cameras being treated with disrespect. Officers would pick up the bags either to see what was inside or the name or number on the bag then if it was not the one they needed they would drop the bags onto the concrete floor from a height of between six inches to a foot off the floor. I would not be surprised if personal property was broken due to police negligence and lack of respect for property. In all we probably sat on the floor for an hour or so before an officer stood at the front of the group to explain what was going to happen and what we were charged with. He told us that we were arrested for “breach of the peace” and that there is no charges and that we would be released soon. Officers then proceeded to match each of the property bags with their owner. Once I was matched up with my personal belongings an officer walked me through a few hallways going passed personal search rooms and a whole lot of metal cages with people in them like a big humane society for people. I arrived at a spot where my handcuffs were taken off and I was told to stand in a certain spot on the floor where feet were painted. I did this and my picture was taken again before being escorted out of the building through a parking and to the turnstiles at the front of the property. I was given my property bag just before going through the turnstiles. The next day my throat was sore and I came down with a cold. Tyranny.
Incident caught on tape and uploaded to YouTube:
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uwL8G3-T9U (you can see me get grabbed close to the end of this video)
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OPhdscNJLs (you can see me at 7:27 of this video) being picked up and walked towards the ally where processing started.