WATCH ABOVE: The senior Toronto police officer who ordered “kettling” and mass arrests during the G20 Summit five years ago is apologizing after being found guilty of misconduct. As Caryn Lieberman reports, lawyers for the protesters say his actions were intolerable.
TORONTO – A senior police officer who ordered the controversial “kettling” tactics during Toronto’s G20 summit five years ago has been found guilty of three of five charges, a judge ruled Tuesday morning.
Supt. Dave (Mark) Fenton was found guilty on two charges of exercising unlawful or unnecessary authority and one charge of discreditable conduct under the province’s Police Service Act.
He had pleaded not guilty to a total of five charges stemming from two “kettling” incidents that occurred over the summit weekend.
Fenton’s lawyer Peter Brauti send in a statement after the ruling that they are disappointed with the result, but respect the ruling and the process that allowed all of the complainants the opportunity to participate.
“Fenton had a very difficult job during the G20 trying to control unprecedented violence and property damage that was occurring in the city of Toronto. He had to make quick decisions and judgement calls to protect the city,” said Brauti.
Get daily National news
“He deeply regrets that some of those decisions lead to the arrest of people who were not involved in the violence and that some people were held in the rain for hours. He would like to personally apologize to all those innocence [sic] parties that were negatively affected.”
Retired Judge John Hamilton said in his 150 page ruling that Fenton’s decision for the mass arrest showed a lack of understanding of the right to public protest.
A disciplinary hearing into the case began last November.
The first kettling incident took place on Saturday, June 26, 2010, hours after a small group of vandals smashed windows and set police cruisers on fire.
READ MORE: Police officer says he told supervisors of bystanders caught in G20 ‘kettling’
Fenton ordered officers to box in protesters in front of a downtown hotel. More than 260 people were arrested and taken to a makeshift prisoner processing centre, which came under severe criticism for its deplorable conditions.
The second incident occurred the next day when, six minutes after coming on shift, Fenton ordered police to keep scores of people standing for hours at a downtown intersection despite a severe thunderstorm that left them drenched.
With files from Caryn Lieberman and The Canadian Press
- ‘I couldn’t stop crying’: Memorial grows for 5-year-old boy killed in home
- Hundreds defrauded in door-to-door Ontario scam, Canada-wide warrants issued
- Kenneth Law responsible for ‘luring’ Ontario teen into suicide death, parents allege
- Quebec’s public security minister accuses gangs of using teens ‘to do their dirty work’
Comments