New photos surface after G20 cas

The close-up above shows the face of one of the police officers photographed at the scene of Dorian Barton’s takedown, left. The SIU investigated the case but said there wasn't enough evidence to lay charges, in part because Barton couldn’t identify any of the officers involved in his arrest. The police watchdog has said it will review new evidence associated with the case.

The province's police watchdog is being given new photos of the arrest of Dorian Barton, who says police assaulted him during the G20 weekend, breaking his right arm and giving him a black eye.

The Special Investigations Unit looked into Barton's case, along with five others, but concluded in November there wasn't enough evidence to lay charges in any of them.

“Mr. Barton could not identify the officers involved in his arrest or fully explain how the injury occurred; nor was the remainder of the evidence capable of resolving these questions,” director Ian Scott said of the case at the time.

Now, new photos of Barton's arrest are surfacing. Just before Christmas, the 29-year-old received a phone call from hospital employee Andrew Wallace, who recognized him after reading about him in the Toronto Star. Wallace took photos of Barton's takedown at Queen's Park, the designated protest zone during the G20.

On Wednesday, Barton and his lawyers, Brian Shiller and Clayton Ruby, will announce at a news conference that they are taking civil action against the Toronto Police Services Board and seven officers who are not identified in the statement, and are referred to instead as John Doe #1 through #7.

A nine-page statement of claim filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice seeks $250,000 for Barton's alleged assault and battery, unlawful arrest and detention and “negligent investigation.”

The claims have not been proven in court and no statement of defence has been filed.

Wallace told the Star that during the arrest he witnessed an officer slamming Barton's right side with a riot shield and hitting him with a baton as Barton lay on the ground. He watched as other officers rushed in and dragged Barton across the pavement by his injured arm, he told the Star.

Armed with Wallace's photos, Barton's lawyers want to identify the officer in question and five others in his immediate vicinity.

Ruby, a longtime champion of individual liberties, wants the officer charged with assault.

“Will they charge him? I haven't the faintest idea because they're appalling,” the lawyer said, referring to the SIU.

“If any other agency had their track record, they'd be kicked into Lake Ontario and drowned as a mercy to the public,” he said.

The face of one of the officers in the photos is visible behind a visor. He is wearing a name tag in the photos, although the letters are too blurry to make out, and a Toronto Police Public Safety Unit badge.

Reached Tuesday, SIU spokesman Frank Phillips had yet to see the photos. But he did say his office would welcome new evidence: “If it's new material information, then we would reopen the investigation if it was deemed to be appropriate.”

Toronto Police echoed that sentiment. “If anybody has any information that would help us get to the truth, we would want it to come forward and we would certainly investigate,” said spokesman Mark Pugash.

Only one criminal charge has been laid against an officer in relation to the violence during the G20 six months ago. After the SIU concluded it could not identify officers involved in alleged wrongdoing, citizens provided the Star and investigators with new videos and images that led to the arrest of Const. Babak Andalib-Goortani in the case of Adam Nobody.

Barton says he is still living with injuries sustained that day in late June. The one-time waiter, who now works for an inventory company, can't raise his arm past his shoulder. “I was barely functional for months,” he said.

Barton lives in an Annex apartment with his wife, Gloria, and their pet rat, Martina. For him, filing the lawsuit isn't about knocking the force.

“Most of the officers that day were really nice,” he said. “The police who arrested me, they seemed like they were really into it.”

When Barton arrived at the Legislature grounds around 4:30 p.m., everything was calm. One minute, he was taking a picture of police horses with his iPhone — he wasn't a protester, just curious. The next minute, he alleges, he was slammed with a police shield.

Minutes later, Barton was sitting in the back of a police van. A wrenching pain radiated from his shattered right arm. His hands were tied behind his back. He had told police he thought his shoulder was broken. “They just laughed and put me in the paddy wagon.”

Barton was eventually brought to the Eastern Ave. detention centre. Another five or six hours passed before he saw a medic, he said.

He was taken to hospital under police guard and handcuffed to a bed for hours. Doctors told him his upper arm was broken. He was taken back to the detention centre for nine more hours, then taken to the Kipling courthouse and charged with obstructing a police officer and unlawful demonstration.

Barton spent 30 hours in custody. His charges were among the very first G20-related charges that were dropped on Aug. 23.

Barton found their probe disappointing: “I felt frustrated that I was attacked and my rights were violated but nothing has come of it.”

His G20 lawsuit is among the first filed against the police by a single complainant. There are currently two class-action suits representing hundreds of the more than 1,000 people arrested during the summit.

On behalf of his client, Ruby also alleges a seventh officer, the one who laid the charge against Barton, was negligent in his or her investigation. There should have been a paper trail, with officers' names attached, for there to be reasonable grounds to lay a charge, Ruby said.

“Obviously this paperwork doesn't exist, or both the force and the SIU would not be able to say they don't know who they are.”

“The police have a constitutional duty to protect his right to free speech. They failed to protect it and then violated it ... They beat the hell out of him.”

Dorian Barton’s father, Ted Burley, reached out to Clayton Ruby’s law firm after Andrew Wallace called his son and provided new photographs of his takedown.

“We were looking for the lawyer or lawyers who would bring the highest possible profile to this case," said Burley. “They don't take on frivolous cases.”

Burley said the law firm has taken the case on contingency, meaning if they win, the firm will get a percentage of the award.

Barton suffered a fractured shoulder and black eye. At the time the SIU said there wasn't enough evidence to lay a charge. Now, Barton is launching a civil suit against the police.

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