Did the police try to cover-up malfeasance and maleficence?

Go back to “POLICING….still more….” from September 17 of last fall, and the second section lead, “I CAN’T PICTURE THIS HAPPENING TO A GROUP OF WHITE KIDS”. 19-year-old Dafonte Miller was hospitalized with a broken nose, broken orbital bone, fractured wrist, and a badly damaged left eye that had to be removed, following a beating by an off-duty Toronto police officer and his brother, and which included 10 strikes with a metal pipe.

It was the early hours of December 28, 2016 on a street in Whitby, Ontario, and, oh yes, Dalfonte and the friends with him are black. This incident wasn’t reported to the Special Investigations Unit as is required, and the SIU didn’t begin to investigate until Miller’s lawyer Julian Falconer contacted them months later.

Justification? For either the beating, or the failure to report? There doesn’t seem to be, but be certain that Durham, Toronto and Waterloo police are working to make a supporting case on one hand, and to shift focus onto Dalfonte Miller on the other. (Toronto Police Service brought in the Waterloo police to look into this, and say its report will be made public.)

Toronto constable Michael Theriault and his younger brother, Christian, were each charged in 2017 with aggravated assault, assault with a weapon…..and public mischief, for misleading police investigators. Their father, John Theriault, is also a Toronto police officer who was with the force’s professional standards unit at the time, and is accused by Falconer of attempting to conceal his sons’ alleged crimes. According to Toronto Mayor John Tory in a Toronto Star February 21 story, the senior Theriault is no longer in that position.

A preliminary hearing began on Tuesday, February 20 in an Oshawa courtroom. The court was scheduled to hear evidence through that week, and it’s all covered by a court-ordered publication ban. It’s scheduled to continue in May.

Michael Theriault with his lawyer made a first appearance before the Toronto police misconduct tribunal on Tuesday, February 27. The constable is charged under Ontario’s Police Services Act with misconduct “in that you did act in a disorderly manner….likely to bring discredit upon the reputation of the Toronto Police Service.” Further, after the alleged assault on Miller causing “serious injury”, Theriault provided the Durham police on the scene with “an account of the confrontation…..which was not accurate.”

After this initial appearance, the police tribunal proceedings have been put off until the criminal charges are resolved.