G20 cop trial awaits judge’s decision

Closing arguments at the trial of a Toronto police officer facing charges stemming from the G20 summit protest were held Wednesday.

Const. Glenn Weddell, 49, who is the first city cop to go on trial for offences arising from the June 2010 event, has pleaded not guilty to assault causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon. A trial for a second officer, Babak Andalib-Goortani, begins next week on assault with a weapon against Mr. Nobody.

Earlier this week, Weddell testified he didn’t hit or shove the man he’s accused of assaulting, but other officers may have.

Weddell told the court the only contact he had with Dorian Barton, 32, on June 26, 2010, at the Ontario legislature was to help him up off the ground.

Barton’s shoulder was broken that day and he was hit with a riot shield and possibly a baton, before being dragged away. He testified that he doesn’t know who delivered the blows but was contacted by witness Andrew Wallace who took photos and said he could identify the attacker.

In his closing argument on Wednesday, defence lawyer Peter Brauti said, “The Crown has not come close to making its case, and has taken a shot-gun approach with multiple theories [that] the court is left with uncertainty as to what happened.”

He argued that Barton, who was an honest witness with a fuzzy memory, doesn’t know who struck him, how he was struck and what he was struck with.

The defence also tried to discredit witness Wallace, who testified he saw the officer hit Barton with his riot shield and then with a baton while Barton was on the ground.
Brauti said Wallace took photos of Barton’s arrest because he himself was angry with police after he was wrongfully arrested for sexual assault.

In contrast, Brauti described Weddell as an “honest, fair, credible witness.”

Weddell denied that he struck Barton with his shield, but admitted there was contact since he had to pick up Barton, Brauti said.

During his closing argument, Crown lawyer Peter Scrutton played the video of Barton being hit and dragged and said there was no way what Weddell did could be characterized as “assisting.”

The Crown asked the judge to reject Weddell’s evidence and said the defence’s characterization of Wallace was a “desperate attempt to taint an otherwise independent witness.”

To suggest that Wallace “has a deep-seated animosity and has been laying in wait for 15 years to wrongfully accuse an officer for revenge” is desperate, Scrutton said.

Superior Court Judge Gregory Ellies is expected to deliver his verdict following the three-day trial on Friday morning.

With files from Marianne Boucher and The Canadian Press

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