An internal investigation into an off-duty Toronto police officer’s conduct during an altercation with a Whitby teen will be handled by a separate agency in order to ensure the investigation is handled with “transparency and trust,” Police Chief Mark Saunders said.
The Waterloo Police Service is now conducting the internal investigation (known as Section 11) into the Dec. 28, 2016 incident, Saunders said at Thursday’s Toronto Police Services Board meeting.
“As chief of police, it is my responsibility to ensure that transparency and trust are at the forefront of everything we do as a Service,” Saunders said.
The news comes after the province’s SIU charged Toronto police officer Michael Theriault and another man in connection with the severe beating of a Whitby teen.
Dafonte Miller, 19, was walking with friends when he was approached by two men standing inside a garage.
According to Miller’s lawyer Julian Falconer, one of the two men identified himself as a police officer. After Miller refused to answer questions, he was allegedly chased by the man and another man who was later identified as his brother.
The two men allegedly beat Miller damaging his eye so severely it eventually had to be removed.
“On the 911 tape you can hear Mike Theriault saying to Dafonte Miller you’re under arrest,” Falconer told CTV News Toronto Thursday. “You can hear his brother saying he’s an off-duty officer and you can hear Mike Theriault identifying himself as such.”
Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders said in a written statement he sent to the media on Thursday that Durham Regional Police “made their decision not to contact the SIU” after the alleged incident.
Saunders said that when the incident was brought to the SIU’s attention, “a very different version of the event” was presented.
The SIU began looking into the incident after being contacted by Falconer in April.
“I would like to make the public aware of a few important details regarding who can notify the SIU and when,” Saunders said in the statement. “Durham Regional Police was responsible for notifying the Toronto Police Service because one of my officers was involved in an event.”
“As per protocol, members of my Professional Standards Unit applied the policy regarding SIU involvement with the facts they had at that time. They made their decision not to contact the SIU based on that information,” he said.
The Toronto Star reported earlier this week that Falconer said the father of the police officer accused in the case works in the Professional Standards Unit.
“In light the circumstances now before me, I have taken the extra step of reaching out to an independent agency to complete the Section 11 investigation,” Saunders said.
Waterloo Regional Police have agreed to be the agency to conduct this further investigation.
“As soon as it is lawfully possible, the report from Waterloo Regional Police Service will be released to the Toronto Police Services Board,” Saunders said. “As soon as legally possible, that report will then to be made public.”
Theriault and his brother have been charged with aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and public mischief as a result of the SIU’s investigation.
However, none of these charges have been proven in court.
