Toronto police wrong for not notifying SIU about Dafonte Miller beating: External review
Posted November 23, 2021 9:12 am.
Last Updated November 24, 2021 7:50 am.
A report presented at the Toronto Police Services board meeting on Tuesday outlined process and procedure changes to be made following an external review into the forces handling of the Dafonte Miller case.
The review by Waterloo Regional Police determined Toronto police made the wrong decision by failing to notify the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) about off-duty officer Michael Theriault seriously injuring Miller five years ago.
The report found that:
“A police officer cannot detain, arrest, use force and/or search an individual as a private citizen (i.e., a “citizen’s arrest”). If the officer exercises any of those powers, they do so as a police officer, and arguably put themselves on-duty, as well.”
The recommendation from the external review is for disciplinary action, but the senior officer who made the call not to inform the province’s police watchdog has now retired.
The lawyer representing Miller’s family says the results of the report confirm what they already knew and will ultimately hold no one accountable.
“No one is accountable,” reads a statement from Julian Falconer of Falconers LLP. “Chief Saunders, Inspector Boyd, have all retired out of accountability. The more they drag their feet on these matters the more opportunities those in charge have to ride off into the sunset without answering for their part in the cover-up.”
“The Toronto Police Service failed Dafonte Miller in December of 2016, and they have failed him again today by not holding those responsible.”
Toronto Police Chief James Ramer says changes have already been made in response to the Waterloo police report, including a detailed list of scenarios describing when the SIU should be contacted about off-duty incidents.
Theriault is serving a nine-month jail sentence after being convicted of assaulting Miller, a Black man, in December 2016 in Whitby.
He and his brother Christian were acquitted on the more serious charge of aggravated assault and on one count of obstruction of justice.
During the trial, prosecutors alleged Theriault and his brother chased Miller in the early hours of the morning and beat him with a metal pipe, leaving him with a ruptured eye and other injuries.
The defence, meanwhile, arguing the brothers acted in self-defence while trying to arrest Miller, who they said had been breaking into the family truck.
Theriault was denied bail from the Court of Appeal for Ontario in July as he seeks to bring his case before the Supreme Court of Canada.
The case spurred multiple protests against anti-Black racism and police discrimination.
With files from the Canadian Press
