Five Toronto police officers accused of roughing up a G20 protester will not face a further criminal investigation, a provincial agency announced Monday.
The Special Investigations Unit has twice probed the case of Adam Nobody, who suffered a broken nose and shattered cheekbone after he says several officers beat him on the lawn of Queen's Park during the summit in June of 2010. The SIU charged Constable Babak Andalib-Goortani in the case, but ruled there was not enough evidence to prosecute any other officers.
But earlier this month, a second provincial body, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, ruled that five officers had used excessive force in Mr. Nobody's arrest. Unlike the SIU, the OIPRD does not have the power to lay criminal charges, but can refers officers for disciplinary proceedings.
In a statement, SIU director Ian Scott said the OIPRD's evidence does not meet a high enough standard to hold up in a criminal court.
Much of the OIPRD's case against the five officers – Constables Andalib-Goortani, Michael Adams, David Donaldson, Geoffrey Fardell and Oliver Simpson – hinges on the findings of acting Detective-Sergeant Chris Kirkpatrick, an investigator with the Toronto Police Service's professional standards unit. Using videos, photographs and deployment sheets, he picked out the five men in the group of officers that swarmed Mr. Nobody at the protest.
The SIU said Det.-Sgt. Kirkpatrick's identifications were "circumstantial" and that the investigator said he would not be confident testifying to them in court.
The OIPRD's findings also were based in part on several officers who admitted they were involved in Mr. Nobody's arrest. Unlike the OIPRD, the SIU does not have the power to compel officers under investigation to give them statements; the officers at the centre of the Nobody case refused to speak with the SIU.
All five officers face disciplinary proceedings in the case.
Adrian Morrow