In Brantford, a small army of officers and a K-9 unit illegally detained and searched a suspect for drugs. The reason the officers gave for the pursuit and takedown? The cyclist was riding on the sidewalk without a light. The judge called the ruse “serious police misconduct” and tossed the drug evidence.
Toronto officers stood in a hospital operating room, without a warrant, while a doctor removed heroin from the rectum of an unconscious stabbing victim so they could seize it. Again, the judge threw out the drug evidence.
In Calgary, police trailed a 24-year-old suspect to a convenience store in 2019. Latef Tag El Din, who had a criminal record, was violating a house arrest order and had a loaded handgun hidden in his vest. As he made a break for the exit, an officer unleashed a police dog and tackled him to the floor. For hours after his arrest, officers ignored and mocked his repeated requests for medical treatment and one sang a song ridiculing his pleas for help. As blood seeped through the bandages covering the bite wounds on Tag El Din’s arm, officers taunted him with “laughter, sarcasm, song and judgment,” the judge said.
