Where Is Justice To Be Found?

For Adam Nobody, the answer appears to be 'nowhere.' Last week retired judge Lee Ferrier ruled at a police disciplinary tribunal that Toronto police Const. Babak Andalib-Goortani should lose five days' pay for his brutalization of Nobody, characterizing it as fleeting and physically minor. a strange way indeed to regard Nobody's broken nose and broken cheekbone.



The judge felt that Andalib-Goortani has already "suffered enough."

It is an assessment at odds with Toronto Star readers, a few of whose missives of outrage I reproduce below:

Police officer Babak Andalib-Goortani has essentially had his allowance docked as a punishment for his behaviour during the G20 protests in Toronto. The judge who heard his appeal apparently felt that the man wasn’t really bad, just naughty, “barely over the line of wrongfulness.” After all, he wasn’t the only police officer to wade into crowds after hiding or removing his name badge, and he’s suffered a marriage breakup, mental stress due to his criminal prosecution, and the loss of his home.

None of these hard times, it seems to me, came about because of what he did. They happened because he was caught, and that only if we discount all the other people in the world who suffered the same troubles without the excuse of legal proceedings in their lives.

If all we want from our justice system is punishment for criminals, which is what legal proceedings did determine the man is, then it’s arguable that he has already paid a price. If we want an offender to take responsibility, feel remorse, and genuinely try to address whatever in him lead to his mistake, with the goal of being welcomed back into a supportive community, neither Andalib-Goortani nor the rest of us are served by this judgment.

He has been judged to be a victim of an attempt to hold our police to civilized standards of behaviour. This does no favours to the man himself, our police, or the rest of us.

Jim Maloy, Barrie

Well, I guess it’s official: we live in a police state.

That a police officer, convicted of brutally beating an innocent, passive fellow citizen, should keep his job is utterly unbelievable – that is, assuming that we do live in a “free and democratic society,” as our constitution proclaims.

What’s happened in this case is called police impunity: the right of police officers to do anything they wish, no matter how criminal, with little or no consequence. The text of Judge Ferrier’s ruling could have been read out in Moscow or Beijing without anyone thinking it abnormal.

Because it’s poppy-time, I cannot help asking: Is this the kind of society that our brave soldiers, sailors, and aviators fought and died for?

Steven Spencer, Pickering

Like prosecutor Brendan Van Niejenhuism I was stunned that convicted Andalib-Goortani was simply docked five days pay for his assault with a weapon.

The retired judge assigned to the Police Tribunal, Lee Ferrier, simply confirmed by his irrational and unfair decision that justice is certainly not for all, but that there is one law for the police, and another for the average citizen.

It’s telling that in the 47-paragraph decision, not one line addressed the impact on the victim of the assault or the impact on public confidence in policing, but was devoted entirely to how Andalib-Goortani is a victim because of his assault on Adam Nobody. Too bad he lost his house and marriage because of his criminal actions, he should have lost his badge and his job too, if not sent to jail.
Until the police complaint system is overhauled, and pro-police biased judges are removed from the process, justice is just a catchphrase for unfair, and worthy of nothing but ridicule.

Gerry Young, Toronto

The Long Road To Justice

Although long, the road to criminal justice for Adam Nobody has finally ended; the police officer who viciously assaulted him during the infamous Toronto 2010 G20 weekend, Const. Babak Andalib-Goortani, was found guilty of using excessive force. Of the myriad who violated the rights of over 1100 people that weekend, he is the only officer to whom justice has been meted out.

And the fact that he has been convicted is thanks to video evidence offered by bystanders. Had the usual blue wall prevailed, the crime would have gone unpunished, as all of the officers involved claimed to have no knowledge of their fellow officers' identities, nor of any crimes they might have perpetrated. This fiction was supported by Chief Bill Blair who, at the time, said that the video taken by bystander John Bridge was tampered with, and that the police were likely arresting a violent, armed offender. They were remarks he later apologized for.

Happily, Justice Louise Botham saw through the veil of lies and 'amnesia' so beloved of police when they are caught in wrongdoing. In response to Andalib-Goortani’s claim that his baton blows against Nobody were to assist officers in arresting a resisting Nobody, she said:

“I find his explanation that he was responding to Adam Nobody’s resistance is nothing more than an after-the-fact attempt to justify his blows rather than reason for them”.

The final test will come on Nov. 8, when Andalib-Goortani will be sentenced. In the unlikely event he is given jail time, he will lose his job; more probable is a fine which will allow him to continue 'protecting and serving.'

Mike McCormack, President of the Toronto Police Association, said that while the police respect the justice system, the judge came to the wrong conclusion. He also opined that this was an isolated incident:

"I think that our members, our police officers, did a great job overall the day of the G20, and they're extraordinary circumstances, and I still stand by our membership and that every officer's actions have to be assessed on their individual actions," he said.

I imagine that at least 1100 people who were illegally incarcerated that weekend and otherwise had their Charter fights abrogated might disagree with McCormack's evaluation.

The Wheels of G20 Justice Move Very Slowly

Although I have written countless posts about the abrogation of charter rights and myriad instances of police brutality that occured in Toronto during the infamous G20 weekend in 2010, the story never seems to be over.

This past week saw one officer acquitted in the assault of Dorian Barton; Glenn Weddell was found not guilty of aggravated assault and assault with a weapon by Ontario Superior Court Justice M. Gregory Ellies based on Wedell's testimony that he initially did not even remember any interaction with Barton, but after reviewing images of the event recalled that he merely helped Barton up from the pavement by his T-shirt and guided him clear of police lines.

This 'memory' stood in sharp contrast to that of Andrew Wallace, a hospital worker also taking pictures of the protest, [who] said he saw Weddell emerge from a line of riot police to viciously hit Barton with his shield and baton, completely without provocation.

Another man, Adam Nobody, testified to similar mistreatment this week; he was, again apparently without provocation, beset upon by five or six officers who pinned him to the ground and pummelled him repeatedly. Police lawyer Harry Black, who is defending Const. Babak Andalib-Goortani against charges of assaulting Nobody with a weapon, his nightstick, made the predictable attempts to impugn Nobody's character and veracity, but the latter remained calmly consistent in his testimony.

In another development,

A court has ruled Ontario’s police watchdog must re-examine a complaint about orders given during the G20 summit by the upper command of Toronto police — allegedly including Chief Bill Blair — to arrest anyone wearing bandanas or masks.

Jason Wall, who filed the complaint, was wearing a brown bandana around his neck when he was arrested on June 27, 2010, while walking on Yonge St. near Gerrard St.

Wall, 26, was charged with wearing a disguise with intent and held for 28 hours in the Eastern Ave. prisoner processing centre.

Finally, and probably the most cowardly and disgraceful act of the entire weekend of police abuse involved John Pruyn, the man who was in the so-called 'official protest zone' at Queens Park with his wife and daughter when, inexplicably, police charged the area, ripped off Pruyn's leg, appropriated his walking sticks, and hauled him off to detention for 24 hours. He received his leg back upon release.

While the link to the Star article doesn't seem to be working, I will tell you what he wants: an official apology by the police officers involved in the abuse, "their boss, Chief Bill Blair, and their ultimate boss, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, that they were wrong to treat him that way."

So far, and unsurprisingly, none of the above has indicated any interest in acknowledging Pruyn's request.

Perhaps all should be reminded of the old adage: Pride goeth before the fall.

More G20 Police Brutality Justice Pending

One of the Toronto police officers identified in the G20 beating of Adam Nobody has now been identified in another incident occurring the same weekend.

Const. Oliver Simpson's employer, the Toronto Police Services Board, is being sued by Nikos Kapetaneas and Caitlin Morgan for the injuries they sustained at the hands (or rather, the feet) of the overzealous officer in an area at Queens Park that had been designated an official protest zone.

As far as I can determine, both Toronto Police Chief bill Blair and Premier Dalton McGuimnty still stand by their men.

You can read the full story here.