Toronto cop who Tasered and stomped on suspect appears before disciplinary hearing

TORONTO — A Toronto police sergeant who stomped on and repeatedly Tasered a man during arrest has made his first appearance at a disciplinary hearing.

Sgt. Eduardo Miranda was charged with unlawful or unnecessary use of authority and discreditable conduct under the Police Services Act after a civilian police oversight agency investigation.

He did not enter a plea nor was the January incident that led to the charges described at the hearing.

However, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director laid out details of the allegations in a report last month.

The agency found Miranda unjustified in deploying his stun gun six times on a man who was handcuffed and lying on the ground.

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It also said the sergeant should not have directed other officers at the scene to interfere with a witness recording the arrest on his phone.

The witness, Waseem Khan, filed a complaint with the OIPRD, prompting the investigation.

Miranda told the agency that the man was acting aggressively, which warranted the use of the stun gun and blows, according to the report. He also denied trying to intimidate Khan, it said.

Khan was not present at Tuesday’s hearing but his lawyer, Selwyn Pieters, said the Toronto man wants “some form of accountability for the officer.”

Pieters said the case illustrates the importance of allowing the public to record police behaviour.

“Any claim that the person who was on the ground was resisting arrest or assaultive to the police officers is completely obviated by what we saw in the video,” he said outside police headquarters.

“Had there not been that video that Mr. Khan took, these police officers’ word would have been against (that of) a homeless person, and unfortunately the court more likely would have believed the officers.”

The lawyer said his client would prefer to have the case heard by a civilian judge rather than a senior police officer, and noted he may request to have someone else oversee it.

The video Khan shot on his cellphone shows several officers standing by a man lying face down on the street. Khan can be heard saying an officer used a stun gun on the man. The video appears to show the same officer stomping on the back of the man’s leg.

The video then shows the same officer looking in Khan’s direction and asking his colleagues to “get that guy out of my face, please.”

Khan is heard saying that he is a witness and not obstructing the arrest, then a female officer walks toward him and says they will be seizing his phone.

A male officer also approaches Khan, looks at the camera and says, “He’s going to spit in your face; you’re going to get AIDS.”

Toronto police apologized for the AIDS comment after the video surfaced.

The OIRPD also said those two officers appeared to engage in misconduct in trying to intimidate Khan, but their offences did not meet the threshold for a disciplinary hearing.

Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press