TORONTO – A Toronto police officer has been disciplined after posing as a soaked passenger aboard the flooded GO Train during last week’s unprecedented flooding.
The officer, who only identified himself as Nick, told a Global News reporter he was on the first floor of the crowded train and the water was rising up to his knees.
“I’m just glad that one of the officers there, he actually picked me up,” he said. “Then he carried me over because my legs started getting a little numb.”
“I’m just trying to get to Richmond Hill.”
But it turns out he was Nick Dorazio, a police officer with the Major Crimes Unit who was helping with the rescue. He made the 2011 Sunshine List as a Constable making $103,175.43.
More than 1,000 people were trapped on the flooded GO Train when it got stuck in rising waters near Bayview Avenue and Pottery Road last Monday.
After the interview, Dorazio can be seen on Global footage talking to several other police officers before walking away.
Dorazio has been disciplined as a result.
“If it was intended as a joke, it wasn’t a very good joke,” Toronto Police spokesperson Mark Pugash said. “There is no explanation that I can think of that would make any sense for this. This was unacceptable behaviour in the midst of what were very difficult circumstances for a lot of people.”
Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair told talk radio station Newstalk 1010 on Tuesday that the officer’s conduct was “shameful.”
“We’ve dealt with this. The matter’s been looked into,” Blair told the radio station. “It was somebody’s idea of a joke and it was not funny.”
Watch: See the full interview with Officer Dorazio below.
With files from The Canadian Press
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