And the debate on racial profiling will continue....

Thanks to LB for pointing this out to me this morning. i have a few things to say about it later. For now, I have pasted the entire article here because you need to create an account at The Toronto Star if you want to read their articles. I already have, but I would understand why if you did not want to.

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Aug. 10, 2005. 06:08 AM
RICK MADONIK/TORONTO STAR
Basil Jardine is suing Peel police, the force’s board and two officers for $3.5 million, claiming he was beaten by the pair who arrested him after a bank heist because he’s black like the robbers.
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Man claims Peel police beating

TRACY HUFFMAN
CRIME REPORTER

Basil (Billy) Jardine just wanted to pay his credit card bill. But witnessing a bank robbery landed him in jail after being beaten by police and covered with blood from a broken nose, the Brampton man claims in a $3.5 million lawsuit against Peel Regional Police, its police services board and two officers, Const. D'Arcy North and a Sgt. Hackenbrook (whose first name was not used in the lawsuit).

The Lisa St. CIBC branch near Queen St. W. and Dixie Rd. in Brampton was busy with about a dozen customers on July 9, so Jardine called his girlfriend while he waited. When two masked men stormed in and robbed the bank, Jardine — who works at a Rexdale community centre running a youth arts program — complied with the demands of the robbers and dropped to the floor with the other customers and staff.

"There were kids in the bank. My first instinct was: Are they okay?" Jardine, 22, said in an interview with his lawyer, Selwyn Pieters, at his side. The robbers were in and out in less than a minute. Jardine said that at the request of another customer, he locked the bank door and waited with the others for police.

Police interviewed other witnesses and then Jardine. A witness in the bank had overheard his conversation with his girlfriend about the number of people in the bank and told police his behaviour was suspicious.

Jardine was asked by police to follow them to the back of the bank and he complied, followed the officers' order, he states in the claim.

"The plaintiff was assaulted by police officer Hackenbrook, told to put his hands behind his back and handcuffed. The plaintiff was not told the reason for his arrest," according to the claim.

None of the allegations in the suit has been proven in court. A spokesperson for Peel Regional Police acknowledged they had been served with the lawsuit but declined to comment.

Jardine said he has never been arrested or had negative dealings with the police until that day. "I've always worked with the police in my neighbourhood, ever since I was in Grade 9. I run a program for youth. We take walls that have been tagged, covered in graffiti, and I come with a design and we put a proper mural over them. ... I do this program with the police. Now I can't trust the police."

"The only characteristic that the plaintiff had in common with the bank robbers is skin colour," the claim states. "The plaintiff is a black male and the bank robbers are black males."

Jardine alleges in the claim "that he was subjected to impermissible racial profiling by officers Hackenbrook and North in violation of (his) Charter rights. ... Officer Hackenbrook and Officer North's use of the plaintiff's race to falsely link him to a crime that he was also a victim of was in bad faith, high-handed, malicious, oppressive and reprehensible."

Once arrested, Jardine claims North and Hackenbrook assaulted him in a van while on the way to the police station. One officer put him in a headlock, another grabbed and twisted his genitals and both punched him several times, Jardine says in the claim filed last week.

In the suit, Jardine claims a number of his Charter rights were breached and that he was tortured, sexually assaulted, subjected to excessive force and detained unnecessarily.

"Both officers punched the plaintiff in his ribs and back and banged his face into the floor of the van several times, causing an injury to the plaintiff's nose," the lawsuit states. The officers used Jardine's credit card statement to attempt to stop his nose from bleeding, he said.

Jardine claims Hackenbrook "was screaming and shouting at the plaintiff, demanding to know who did the bank robbery and claiming, `I know you know.'"

North "threatened the plaintiff variously with planting an ounce of cocaine and a replica handgun on him, and with shooting the plaintiff in the head and dumping his body in the lake," the lawsuit claims.

While at the station, Jardine claims he was interrogated for many hours, held in a cell without permission to make a phone call. He was released more than 12 hours after the robbery without charges. He was given a different shirt than the one he was wearing when he was taken into custody, he says. He asked the officers for his bloodstained shirt and his credit card bill.

"Officer Hackenbrook stated to the plaintiff, `You think I am stupid enough to let you leave the station with this bloody shirt?'" the statement claims. Jardine went to the hospital and was treated for a broken nose and injuries to his chest, face, arms, neck and back.

The police report concludes by saying:

"During the investigation, police received information from witnesses that the culprit who was inside the bank as a customer was acting suspicious before and after the robbery occurred.

"The culprit had also made a phone call, at which time a witness overheard the culprit state that there were 10 to 15 people inside the bank.

"The culprit then hung up the phone. Seconds later, the robbery occurred. The culprit also attempted to leave the bank after the robbery and was told to stay inside the bank by bank employees.

"Police arrested the culprit for robbery at 3:35 p.m.," the report says. "Rights to counsel and caution were read. The culprit was transported to 21 Division. After an extensive investigation, he was released unconditionally."

Pieters said he is hopeful the chief will order an internal affairs investigation into the officers' conduct. Jardine said his back has ached since the incident and he's had trouble working at the Elmbank Community Centre.

"I had to cancel an art program because of the back pain," Jardine said. "I had to cancel on the kids. They suffered too. They're out on the streets when they should be with me. That's not right."







TheStar.com - Man claims Peel police beating