At least three people charged with multiple gun possessions in Toronto have been fully exonerated on grounds of police misconduct in recent weeks, the Toronto Star reported.
Daveion Brown, for example, was arrested in the middle of the night when six police officers broke down the door of his apartment in October 2020. The then 25-year-old man was later charged with possession and dealing in a firearm. Fire.
However, in a decision issued in December but reported by The Star on Friday, Judge Apple Newton-Smith found that while the police had brought a search warrant to enter the suspect’s home, they had failed to bring a search warrant that allow her to enter unannounced. Therefore, by breaking down the door without warning, the agents overstepped the bounds and violated Mr. Brown’s rights, closing it with an acquittal.
In another case, a man was arrested and charged with pointing a gun at a person walking his dog in April 2021. Richard MacMillan faced eight charges in court, all of which were ultimately dropped on charges of “police negligence”. Judge Hafeez Amarshi ruled. According to him, the police took too long to transmit the evidence on file, which prevented the accused from bringing a court case within a reasonable time.
In another ruling released in January, Judge Lori Anne Thomas found that a rapper accused of possession of a firearm was racially profiling by the officers who arrested him and therefore dismissed the charges.
These legal failures by the Toronto police come as all the country’s prime ministers, as well as many police forces, have called for tougher conditions on the release of suspects arrested in connection with armed violence following the death of police officer Grzegorz in Pierzchala, on December 27 in Ontario shot dead by wanted man.