Another front-page treatment on the Star, another officer charged with G20 offenses
The Toronto Star continued to do the investigative work the Toronto police would prefer it didn’t, managing once more to splash its front page with a story about a cop accused of abuse at the G20 summit. And, once more, with the spotlight shining brightly on n allegedly misbehaving officer, charges were promptly laid. It’s pretty much a replay of the Babak Andalib-Goortani case, only this time the Star had someone other than Rosie Dimanno do the honours.
From the Star’s follow-up report:
On Friday, the Special Investigations Unit charged Toronto police Const. Glenn Weddell with assault causing bodily harm in connection with [Dorian] Barton’s arrest during the G20 summit last June. The charge came on the same day the Toronto Star publicly revealed Weddell was the previous unnamed officer photographed during Barton’s violent arrest….
The SIU launched an investigation on June 27, 2010, but wound up shutting down and reopening the case twice, each time citing lack of evidence.
Of course, Const. Weddell is innocent until proven guilty. But the old saw in the news business is that two is a coincidence but three is a trend. The Toronto police force is now one embarrassing Star headline away from even the fashion section talking about how bad blue and taciturn is looking this season. Also, in the “not” column of the hot/not lists: Dalton McGuinty’s repeated refusals to hold a public inquiry on this. We assume Liberal MPPs in Toronto will enjoy explaining to voters this fall why repeated behavior of this kind doesn’t need a serious investigation. Hey, it’s not like the Liberal brand is in trouble in Toronto, right?
• Toronto police officer charged in G20 assault [Toronto Star] • Toronto police officer accused of assaulting pastry-maker at G20 summit [Globe and Mail] • SIU charges officer in Dorian Barton G20 case [CBC] • Officer charged with assault causing bodily harm from G20 summit [National Post]
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