Two Toronto police officers who reportedly told a man to stop filming an arrest in the downtown core and then threatened to seize his cellphone as evidence will be spoken to by their superiors, a Toronto Police Service spokesperson says.
A video, which was obtained by CP24 Tuesday, shows officers stunning an assault suspect with a conducted energy weapon near Dundas and Church streets. During the interaction, one of the officers is seen motioning towards the camera and saying “get that guy out of my face please.”
Two officers are then seen urging the cameraperson to stop filming. When the man refuses, both officers threaten to seize his phone as evidence.
Speaking with CP24 Tuesday night, the man who shot the video said he and his wife were taking their son to daycare when they came upon the arrest.
He said he started recording the interaction after the suspect was removed by police from the back of a cruiser.
“They put him on the ground, and I saw an officer kick him and stomp him, the gentleman, on the head, and then they dragged him over to the curb,” Waseem Khan described.
The suspect was then hit two or three times with a conducted energy weapon, he said.
“The one officer that was doing the Tasing – I guess he got really aggravated that I was recording him.”
Khan said he was disgusted by comments made by one of the two officers who approached him regarding the suspect as he recorded.
“He looked at me and he said ‘He’s going to spit on you and you’re going to get AIDS.’”
Khan said he ultimately stopped filming the interaction because he was scared about having his phone taken by officers.
Speaking with CTV News Toronto Tuesday afternoon, a Toronto Police Service spokesperson confirmed that people cannot have their phones seized arbitrarily by officers.
“If someone isn’t interfering and isn’t obstructing then they have every right to film,” Mark Pugash said.
“As far as I can see from this video the person filming wasn’t doing anything wrong, he was a distance away, and the fact is that the officers don’t have the authority to seize someone’s phone.”
Suspect allegedly punched cop
Pugash said that police initially responded to the area on Tuesday morning after being called about a man who was accused of spitting at someone. Pugash said that when an officer attempted to take the suspect into custody, he then launched a “completely unprovoked attack.”
“He spat at her and then knocked her to the ground with a single punch,” he said. “Some construction workers then arrived to assist the police officer, one of whom was bitten by the man. Police arrived, they put him in the back of the scout car and he then kicked out the back window. They then got him out and onto the ground.”
Pugash said that the officers had “no authority” to threaten to take a member of the public’s phone.
He said, however, that he believes the force used in the arrest itself was justified.
“You have to keep in mind that officers were confronted by someone who committed great violence not once, not twice, but three times,” he said. “(The officers) as far as I can see, did their best to bring him under control.”
Officers should get used to being filmed
Pugash said that "most officers" understand that members of the public have a right to film them so long as they are not interfering. Nonetheless, he said that police remind front-line officers of that fact from time to time.
"They have to get used to the fact that in 2017 this is what we are all confronted with. Everybody has a smartphone," he said.
