Police, MLSE help repair David Crombie basketball court
Posted July 19, 2013 1:35 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Toronto police, City of Toronto and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) officials are helping to repair a downtown community basketball court that was destroyed during a police chase earlier this week.
A police cruiser was caught on video ripping up tiles on the basketball court at David Crombie Park, near Front and Sherbourne streets, on Tuesday night during an arrest of a young offender.
The basketball court was built in 2010 by MLSE as a gift to the St. Lawrence Market community, and the owner of the Toronto Raptors and Toronto Maple Leafs was there Friday to remove the tiles so that the community can play hoops again.
Students from a youth in policing initiative were also on hand to help with the tile removal and cleanup.
Mari Caravaggio, city’s business development officer, said the city will work with police and MLSE to decide what new surface will be installed for the basketball court in the future.
Staff Sgt. Jordan Latter told CityNews the cleanup was a “positive” experience “out of an unfortunate accident.”
“This is a very important focal point of this community and a lot of basketball tournaments are held here,” he said. “So we knew this importance and we moved as fast as we could to try to get it revitalized.”
A youth named Marcel, who was watching the cleanup, told CityNews, “I really want to play badly and I just hope they finish really quickly…I can’t take it anymore.”
