A community advocate alleges she was both physically and sexually assaulted by a Toronto police officer while attempting to attend a police services board meeting last month.
D!ONNE Renee spoke at a press conference Wednesday morning and alleged the officer assaulted her when she requested permission to use the elevator in the building to get to the meeting taking place on the second floor, as she has difficulty using stairs.
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) confirmed to Global News they are looking into the incident, but could not comment further as it is an active investigation.
Renee said the officer refused her access to the elevator multiple times before she asked to speak to a supervisor. She told reporters she was then assaulted by the officer.
“For him not caring about my person, my dignity, my humanity or even my wellness to cause me harm in the way that he did,” said Renee at a news conference Wednesday morning. “For him not to consider or not as a woman I could have been pregnant, to slam me to the ground the way in which he did, and was on top of me, to grab my breast the way he did – none of these things were considered.”
In a statement released Wednesday morning from “community members who support D!ONNE,” a list of six demands were made in relation to the incident:
1) Toronto Police Services (TPS) immediately suspend the officer in question.
2) TPS immediately turn over all video footage leading up to and of the alleged assault at Police Headquarters and thereafter (inside and outside footage between the hours of 12:55pm – 6:00pm). Police claims that such video does not exist are unacceptable;
3) The SIU provide immediate public notice and documentation of all investigations into allegations of sexual assault against police officers
4) Toronto Police Services Board (TPSB) immediately move its meeting from Toronto Police Headquarters to Toronto City Hall;
5) TPSB immediately halt the recently introduced practice of warrantless searches and arbitrary detention as its price to enter public meetings;
6) TPSB review its policies on accessibility regarding public meetings and all public documentation of TPSB activities.
Mayor John Tory acknowledged Wednesday morning that the city has looked into the possibility of moving the police services board meetings from police headquarters to City Hall or other locations in the city.
But he also pointed out the importance of security and called the measures implemented at police headquarters “reasonable.”
“Just because you have the meeting somewhere else, in City Hall or elsewhere in the city dose not mean that I do not support the security measures that have been undertaken at police headquarters,” he said during a break in city council. “These are reasonable security measures for a place where police and everybody else have an obligation to keep the public and the people who work in the building safe.
“It is obviously one of the places you have to be particularly concerned about in this day and age of 2017 when there are lots of incidents happening.”
Activist Desmond Cole who also spoke at the press conference Wednesday said Renee would be filing a complaint with the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) and is considering the possibility of filing a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal.
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