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Toronto
police | Fantino | Toronto
Police 2005
Ken Wood
Toronto man says he was
beaten at protest in 2002
Police service, constable, 3 other officers named
TRACY HUFFMAN, Toronto Star
STAFF REPORTER, Feb. 19, 2004
Ken Wood wanted to participate
in a peaceful demonstration.
For that, he claims he was
brutally beaten by police and left lying in the middle of King
and Bay Sts., bleeding and unconscious. The incident, captured
on videotape, was shown to reporters yesterday as Wood announced
the launch of a $450,000 lawsuit against police.
But Wood's nightmare didn't
end with his injuries, he said. Five weeks later, about six officers
in plainclothes arrived at his door, slapped handcuffs on him
and hauled him off to be strip-searched and held in jail for
the night, he alleges.
"I wasn't clear about
what was going on. It was so long after the fact," the 54-year-old
grandfather said. "Police don't just have guns and weapons
to scare people. They can intimidate you."
Wood's civil suit names the
Toronto Police Services Board, Constable Andrew Hassall and three
unknown officers as defendants.
"We have not yet been
served with the statement of claim," said Toronto police
Staff Inspector George Cowley. "But I would anticipate that
we will be defending it vigorously."
Wood said he has never experienced
fear like he did the day of the protest, Oct. 15, 2001.
"The last thing I remember
was being beaten over the head and blacking out," he told
a news conference yesterday.
At least three officers restrained
him, beat him and failed to assist him when he regained consciousness
several minutes later with blood seeping from his head, said
Brian Shiller, Wood's lawyer.
A video shows three officers
holding Wood while another strikes him about four times with
a baton.
"It was a brutal unprovoked
assault that is clearly criminal," Shiller said. Wood required
13 stitches to close a wound on his head.
Five weeks later, after Wood
filed a complaint with police, he was charged with assaulting
an unnamed officer.
"Those charges were nothing
short of a joke," Shiller said. Two years later, the charges
were stayed.
He said the official complaint
lodged by Wood was later dismissed as "frivolous, vexatious
or made in bad faith."
"Chief Fantino is not
in control of this police force.... How many isolated incidents
does (he) need before he agrees that a systemic problem exists?"
said Shiller, who along with lawyer Jennifer Gleitman represents
Wood.
In an unrelated case this week,
a prosecutor withdrew charges against a man who was charged with
assaulting police. An amateur videotape of the incident showed
an officer grabbing Said Jama Jama, 21, throwing him against
a car and punching him in the face.
Wood alleges he went to the
demonstration to protest the former premier Mike Harris' government.
At one point, he says he decided
to assist a man in a car trying to get through the crowded intersection
by moving a newspaper box that was in the street.
"The next thing I heard
was, `Hey, you.' And I turned around and saw a crowd of police
coming at me with their batons waving," Wood said.
"Then everything was just
a real blur."
Wood said he suffers from anxiety,
social isolation and depression, and on the advice of his doctor,
he agreed to find something he believed in and was passionate
about. He decided to volunteer at a food bank and peacefully
protest for causes he believes in.
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Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
