Three teens suffered injuries, including a fractured arm, after they were accused of evading TTC fares at Finch West station and forcibly taken to the ground and charged by Toronto police officers, in a case that is now being reviewed by the province’s police watchdog.
asserted
that → suffer → watchdog
The Star spoke with three of the boys who were charged after the after the Oct. 7 incident with assaulting a peace officer and, in some cases, obstructing justice, as well as with their parents.
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who → speak → parents
All three boys say they paid their fares but that after one of them was accused by an officer of trespassing and detained, the others questioned the arrest, surrounding officers, and then were also forced to the ground and handcuffed.
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others → say → ground
All of them denied assaulting the officers.
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All → deny → officers
Two other boys were arrested after the incident.
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boys → arrest → incident
None of the teens can be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
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None → identify → Act
“They have no proof of these kids not paying,” one boy’s father told the Star in an interview, saying he mentors the boys through basketball and that none of them are “trouble-makers.”
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none → have → them
Even if the boys didn’t pay their fares, the father said, it doesn’t justify the physical takedowns, including that of his son, who he said weighs 100 pounds and experienced swelling around his knee after his arrest.
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he → pay → arrest
“You guys are going to rush a 15-year-old like that over three dollars?”
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guys → go → dollars
The 14-year-old boy first accused by police spoke with the Star alongside his mother at their home in North York.
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boy → accuse → York
The Star has viewed a copy of his hospital records, which state his humeral head — the ball-shaped part of the upper arm bone — was fractured.
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head → view → bone
Toronto police responded to questions from the Star with a statement that said there were “ongoing concerns about behaviour involving groups of young people at the station” and that police “have been working with the TTC to address them.”
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police → respond → them
An earlier press release said “several youths were manipulating the entrance gates to enter without paying.”
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youths → say → gates
“The public expects police to respond when problems arise in our transit system, and that’s exactly what our officers were doing,” police spokesperson Stephanie Sayer wrote in an email.
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Sayer → expect → email
“While people are entitled to question police actions, that does not give anyone the right to physically interfere with an arrest or assault an officer.”
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that → entitle → officer
Both police and the Special Investigations Unit have confirmed that the incident is now subject to an independent investigation by the provincial police watchdog, which has a mandate to review incidents involving police officers during which members of the public are seriously injured, including fractures.
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members → confirm → fractures
What happened at Finch West station?
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What → happen → station
The 14-year-old boy who spoke to the Star said he saw uniformed officers along with TTC special constables as he and his friends descended into the station on an escalator that Wednesday afternoon.
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he → speak → escalator
The station was busy after school and filled with teens and other commuters.
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station → fill → teens
He said he saw one person jump a fare gate before running away.
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person → say → gate
He said no one chased after that person.
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one → say → person
After tapping their phones and entering the paid area of the station, the boy said, a female officer approached him and said they were trespassing and that if they didn’t leave they would all be arrested.
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they → tap → him
The boy said the officer reached out for his arm and he responded: “You cannot touch me.”
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You → say → me
The officer, he said, grabbed his arm and put his hand behind his back as another officer approached with handcuffs.
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officer → say → handcuffs
What the videos show — and don’t show
Videos of the incident provided by the boys and their families and those posted on social media capture the ensuing struggle.
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Videos → show → struggle
None of the videos show the events leading up to the boys’ first contact with officers.
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None → show → officers
Neither the TTC nor the police responded to questions of whether the boys’ entrance into the station was captured on surveillance footage.
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entrance → respond → footage
Throughout one of the longer videos, there is ongoing physical contact between two involved police officers and several of the boys — both those arrested and those who were not.
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who → be → boys
One begins with the 14-year-old boy, the female officer holding his arm behind his back, pressed up against a barrier as several boys surround them, shouting.
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boys → begin → them
One teen clings to his friend from the other side of the gate in a standoff with officers.
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teen → cling → officers
The shouting continues as one of the officers moves her arm in a chopping motion toward the arms of the boys holding on to the detained teen.
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one → continue → teen
The officers pull the boy toward a corner of the station, where a male officer steps his leg out behind the boy’s left leg, as though to trip him.
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officer → pull → him
The boy stumbles backwards as the officer holds him, forcing him to the ground as other teens surround them.
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teens → stumble → them
At one point, the hand of at least one teen appears to reach out to the officer’s upper arm and the officer swipes toward them as he holds the 14-year-old down.
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he → appear → old
The boy, face down on the ground with his backpack covering his head, is handcuffed as the other teens continue to protest.
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teens → cover → head
“They just put everyone on the floor,” the teen recalled of his and his friends’ subsequent arrests.
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teen → put → arrests
Handcuffed on the floor, the boy said, he was trying to get the female officer’s attention.
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he → handcuff → attention
He said he tapped her leg with his foot, asking, “Miss, miss, what did I do?”
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I → say → what
He said the officer told him: “‘That’s assault.
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That → say → him
You can’t touch an officer.’”
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You → touch → officer
…and 27 more, not listed.
The Aporia
