SIU reopens investigation after sex assault allegations surface
Posted February 12, 2016 4:04 pm.
Last Updated February 12, 2016 4:10 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Two days after Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit cleared a Toronto police officer of using excessive force, the unit is reopening the investigation.
“They didn’t look at the sex assault,” said Toronto lawyer Selwyn Pieters. “You can’t stick a finger up a bum – that’s assault.”
In a news release Wednesday, the SIU said it cleared a Toronto police officer of criminal charges for injuries a suspect sustained in a June 2015 arrest. The 17-year-old – who can’t be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act – fractured his wrist around the time of his interaction with police, but the SIU said the officer in question used reasonable force to arrest the teen for public intoxication.
But now the teen’s lawyer says the SIU is looking at what happened after the arrest, when the teen was brought to cells at 51 division. Pieters says the teen was forced into an “illegal strip search,” where officers not only removed the teen’s clothes, but conducted a body cavity search.
“You can’t do that – that’s sex assault,” Pieters explains.
Although police are allowed to conduct strip searches, a medical professional must be present when body cavities are being searched. Pieters says there were no medical professionals on site.
SIU spokesperson Jason Gennaro has confirmed that SIU has started a new investigation.
In the initial release, Gennaro said investigators had access to videos from cameras inside the sally port, booking hall, and cell areas of 51 Division. There is no mention of the alleged sex assault.