A black assistant Crown attorney says his emotional scars will "never fully heal" from alleged racism after Toronto police officers charged him with causing a disturbance in the entertainment district more than a year ago.
"The unspoken message to me was: lawyer, Crown, or whatever, you're still just a black guy so know your place, boy," Roger Shallow writes in his complaint to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, obtained by the Toronto Star.
In his complaint against the Toronto Police Services Board and five officers, the lawyer gives his version of the arrest that has placed him in the centre of a rare public fight between Toronto police and the attorney general of Ontario.
Police have yet to formally respond to the allegations in Shallow's claim.
On Thursday, the Toronto Police Association protested the Crown's dropping of charges against Shallow for causing a disturbance and assault to resist arrest. Shallow has often prosecuted police officers for wrongdoing.
In his complaint, Shallow says that at 3:20 a.m. on Oct. 6, 2007, he was standing beside a vehicle on Adelaide St. W. outside Blurr nightclub speaking with the driver, Alicia Bindoo, his black girlfriend.
"All of a sudden a female police officer, whom I later learned to be P.C. Gail Shields, began berating Ms. Bindoo to move the vehicle," Shallow said in his complaint, filed on Oct. 6, 2008. "P.C. Shields was rude, aggressive, hostile and uncivil from the outset," he wrote. "I believe her approach, and subsequent actions would have been different if Ms Bindoo and I were the same colour as she. She is white."
Shallow, 37, said age is likely a factor, as he and Bindoo look young.
Another police constable, Paul Clarke, who is black, then assisted Shields and "used unnecessary and excessive force" in making an "unlawful" arrest for being intoxicated in a public place, the complaint said. Shallow denies he was drunk.
He was taken to downtown's 52 Division police station, where he was told he had been charged with causing a disturbance and assault to resist arrest. Then three other officers subjected him to an unlawful and degrading strip search, he said.
"There is no doubt in my mind that it was done to slap this young black man `back into his place,'" he wrote. The resulting emotional and psychological injuries "will never fully heal," he said. "At times, I find myself unable to control my emotion, breaking out in crying spells."
As a remedy, Shallow is asking that his "shoes be relaced by the officers involved in the strip search and apologies from all involved." Laces are routinely removed from prisoners' shoes when they are jailed.
Toronto Police Association president Dave Wilson said Shallow's allegations are without merit.
"He's laying complaints based on the fact he was in custody and the officers were following standard procedures," Wilson said.
"His behaviour led him down the path of the arrest. He had a choice and now he's complaining about everything he can."
Last year, Shallow went before a justice of the peace and alleged that Shields and Clarke assaulted him. Charges were laid against the two officers.
The withdrawal of charges against Shallow has forged an uncommon alliance between Wilson and Toronto police Chief Bill Blair, who are complaining about the decision.
Jeanine E. LeRoy, a London defence lawyer who was acting as the prosecutor in Shallow's case, told court Wednesday she had no choice but to abandon the charges because there was no reasonable prospect of conviction.
Blair said in a memo he is "addressing it with the attorney general." The police association is asking the Law Society of Upper Canada to probe LeRoy's "conduct."
Sean Dewart, Shallow's civil lawyer, insists the criminal case against his client was properly concluded.
Yesterday, a spokesperson for Attorney General Chris Bentley said it is a coincidence that LeRoy was Bentley's former law partner in London, Ont. The ministry hired LeRoy for Shallow's prosecution on Oct. 11, 2007, whereas Bentley was not named AG until Oct. 30, 2007, Sheamus Murphy said. Also, Bentley was "screened from the file," he added.
One of the constables who arrested Shallow, meanwhile, faces possible dismissal after pleading guilty to Police Service Act charges following her June 11, 2007, conviction for drunk driving.
Shields pleaded guilty to impaired driving in Scarborough court after blowing almost three times the legal limit. Several other charges, including failing to remain at an accident scene, were withdrawn.
Earlier this week, Shields pleaded guilty to Police Act charges. The police prosecutor is asking for her dismissal at a hearing set for Feb. 6.