Toronto police officer who assaulted civilian believed man was driving drunk

By News Staff

A Toronto police officer who pleaded guilty to assaulting a civilian believed the victim was driving drunk, according to court records obtained by CityNews on Monday.

However, he never arrested the man, reported the stop, or called for help after leaving the scene with the victim still on the ground. When other officers and paramedics returned to the scene, the officer told them it wasn’t important.

“The incident was abandoned without further investigation or documentation,” according to a Toronto Police Services Board meeting.

Since January of 2016 CityNews has been investigating the circumstances surrounding the arrest of Sgt. Robert Goudie.

Goudie was charged with assault causing bodily harm and failure to provide the necessaries of life after an incident at 4 a.m. on Oct. 31, 2015.

That night, according to the province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU), a 47-year-old man drove his car into a parking lot at 10 Gordonridge Pl., near Danforth Road and Midland Avenue. Moments later, a police cruiser entered the parking lot and pulled up behind the man’s vehicle. The SIU says the officer and the man were involved in an interaction. The officer left the scene, and the man ended up in hospital with undisclosed injuries.

The police watchdog did not indicate the severity of the injuries faced by the 47-year-old. However, months later, in January of 2016, CityNews spoke with him. Though he did not want to be interviewed, the man was visibly injured, with a neck brace, leg brace, and bruises on his face.

He was also wearing the neck brace on Oct. 31, according to Goudie’s sentencing.

That night, Goudie believed the man had been driving drunk. According to court transcripts, the victim, who CityNews is not identifying, parked and got out of his car. After the man exited, Goudie pulled up in a marked police SUV and parked behind him. The two men spoke while standing near the victim’s open car door. Less than a minute later, the court heard, Goudie “took hold of [the victim] and forced him down onto the ground on the grassy boulevard in front of the car.”

Goudie pinned the man with his knee and searched him. He then got up and walked toward the car. Goudlie looked in the car with his flashlight, took out a crutch from inside the car, and threw it toward the man. Goudie then left the scene. At no point did he report the stop, or arrest the man.

The entire interaction took seven minutes, the court heard.

Goudie said he believed the man was conscious when he left. However, surveillance video shows the man stayed on the ground for about 30 minutes. At that point, police and paramedics arrived.

The man was already wearing a neck brace and his crutch was nearby. Paramedics said they smelled alcohol “as well as signs of impairment.” Paramedics took the man to hospital, where he refused to be assessed and voluntarily left.

The man had a pre-existing spinal injury and the Crown could not prove that Goudie hurt him. The man himself said he had no memory of the incident, and only reported it after he was told what happened by an eyewitness. He went to his doctor three days later, on Nov. 2, 2015.

Justice Miriam Bloomenfeld said Monday that the “application of force on [the victim] was unjustified and excessive and amounts to assault.”

Goudie agreed to those facts.

On several occasions, CityNews contacted the Ministry of the Attorney General and the SIU for information about the circumstances surrounding the assault. Though they didn’t provide information, citing court proceedings underway, we now know the case quietly wrapped up in court on April 18, 2017.

Though he was charged with assault causing bodily harm, Goudie pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of assault. The charge of failure to provide the necessaries of life was dropped at the Crown’s request.

In an email, a representative from the Ministry of the Attorney General tells CityNews:

“The Crown has a duty to assess the strength of a case throughout a prosecution, and is duty bound to withdraw charges if there is no reasonable prospect of conviction, or if it is not in the public interest to proceed.”

Goudie has now been given a conditional discharge, which means his record will eventually be clear following six months’ probation.

Toronto Police tell CityNews Goudie has been suspended with pay since January of 2016. Since the criminal matter has concluded, his suspension is under review but he still faces an internal disciplinary process.

There are still several questions surrounding the events on Oct. 31, 2015. CityNews continues to investigate.

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