Toronto teen claims he was a victim and not a perpetrator in January gun call
An 18-year-old taken into custody in January after a Toronto school went into lockdown amid screams someone had seen a gun has told CTV News Toronto he was a "victim" and "not the perpetrator."
“They huddled around me, and then I’m attacked,” said Ahmaud Benjamin Cockburn.
In a $2 million civil suit he’s launched against the Toronto District School Board, the Toronto Police Services Board and six students, Cockburn claims he was attacked by a group of boys at Marc Garneau Collegiate yelling racial epithets after he tried to break up a lunch-hour fight on Jan. 19.
“My face was obviously very bloody because i was just attacked, my nose was broken and there was blood on my shoe.”
Cockburn says while panic reigned, he himself ran toward the school guidance counsellor’s office.
“I don’t even know the whole school is panicking, everybody’s running away from me. Like it hasn’t even registered yet that people think that I have a gun on me.”
Cockburn says first responders were called, but instead of medical attention, he was peppered with questions from police.
“All you have to do is check the cameras you know? I kept repeating to them — just check they cameras, because [other students are] saying they saw me with a gun. I‘m telling you there was no gun. All you have to do is check the cameras.”
Cockburn’s guardian arrived while the school was in lockdown. Andrew Kizic, a former first aid instructor, says he took one look at the teen’s battered face and asked: “‘Has medical been called at all? Has anybody taken a look at him?’ And the police officer that was there was like, ‘Oh, you want medical?’”
Kizic says the teen was promised medical attention — if he answered officers’ questions first.
“I can’t name another…school education system where you are allowed to get punched in the face, then detained, and not offered medical.”
The 18-year-old was eventually taken into police custody, which he describes as very traumatizing.
”I was sitting there just in the back of a police cruiser in handcuffs, like, tight, my wrists were bruised, they were cut. And I’m telling these officers, I’m telling them — I need to use the washroom.”
Cockburn claims, however, that he was laughed at, and made to wait another hour before he was permitted to use the bathroom.
“I want to know what their protocol was that led them down this path to say, ‘Okay, we have to put him in cuffs, even though we found nothing. And we’re going take him down to the station and let him urinate on himself in the back of a cab,’” said Kizic.
When approached about the incident, Toronto police spokesperson Stephanie Sayer issued CTV News Toronto this statement: “As this is before the courts, it would be inappropriate for us to comment.”
Ryan Bird, a spokesperson for the TDSB, meanwhile, wrote: “As this is currently before the courts, we’re not in a position to comment further at this time. However, external counsel retained by the TDSB will be responding to the lawsuit in short order.”
But Cockburn’s guardian wants answers now. “This is ridiculous, I was enraged, I was angry.”
And Andrew Kizic wants someone to be accountable for what happened.
“There was complete neglect for his health and well-being.”
Cockburn says he wasn’t released by police until after 10 p.m. No charges were laid. Neither, however, did he receive an apology, nor any medical attention.
“I was just answering to police questions. There was no help from the school board at all.”
Cockburn says he now suffers from anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. But it’s his reputation that has taken the hardest hit.
“They don’t know what really went down that day. They just know the stories that they were told.”
None of the allegations have been tested in court, nor have any statements of defence been filed at this point.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'My family doctor just fired me': Ontario patients frustrated with de-rostering
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
Canada Post cracks down on Nunavut loophole to get free Amazon Prime shipping
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
Adopted daughter in the Netherlands reunited with sister in Montreal and mother in Colombia, 40 years later
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Michael Cohen: A challenging star witness in Donald Trump's hush money trial
He once said he would take a bullet for Donald Trump. Now Michael Cohen is prosecutors' biggest piece of legal ammunition in the former president's hush money trial.
Millions of Canadians have been exposed to potentially toxic chemicals, and they're not going anywhere
For decades, North Bay, Ontario's water supply has harboured chemicals associated with liver and developmental issues, cancer and complications with pregnancy. It's far from the only city with that problem.
German men with the strongest fingers compete in Bavaria's 'Fingerhakeln' wrestling championship
Despite the threat of dislocated fingers and strained muscles, over 150 Bavarian men came together Sunday to compete in Germany’s unique national championship of “Fingerhakeln,” or finger wrestling.
Flash floods in northern Afghanistan sweep away livelihoods, leaving hundreds dead and missing
The UN food agency estimated that unusually heavy seasonal rains in Afghanistan have left more than 300 people dead and thousands of houses destroyed, most of them in the northern province of Baghlan, which bore the brunt of the deluges Friday.
As Israel pushes deeper into Rafah, Hamas regroups elsewhere in ungoverned Gaza
Israeli forces were battling Palestinian militants across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, including in parts of the devastated north that the military said it had cleared months ago, where Hamas has exploited a security vacuum to regroup.
4th Indian national arrested, charged with murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar
Homicide investigators in B.C. say murder charges have been laid against a fourth Indian national in connection to the killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a Surrey gurdwara last year.