Toronto cop caught on tape sucker-punching man in 2003 will serve 30-day sentence on weekends
Nov 17, 2007
Courts Bureau
A Toronto police officer who was caught on tape sucker-punching a man outside a Rexdale coffee shop was led away in handcuffs when his appeal of the conviction was tossed out of court yesterday.
After listening to the day-long arguments, Justice Nola Garton said the judge who convicted Const. Roy Preston two years ago for the August 2003 assault on Said Jama Jama made the right decision, and ordered the officer to be taken into custody to serve out his 30-day sentence.
It was not a banner day for the Toronto police force as more than one-fifth of the courtrooms at the University Ave. courthouse were hearing cases involving Preston and eight other officers on the force – the charges ranging from sexual assault to corruption.
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Const. Roy Preston |
Standard courthouse procedure calls for convicted criminals to be led away immediately in handcuffs to a holding cell in the basement of the courthouse, and then driven to jail.
But the 39-year-old officer was apparently getting special treatment when he was allowed to hug his wife, talk to other officers and friends, even use the cell phone, presumably to call relatives with the bad news.
The same favour had been granted last year to lawyer Peter Shoniker after he was convicted of money laundering. In both cases, reporters and the public were asked to leave the courtroom.
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| Said Jama Jama - Before and after the assault |
But yesterday, the media, along with a producer making a documentary on the case, refused to leave and at one point were warned by a courthouse guard they could be arrested for trespassing since the court had ended.
A courthouse official later blamed the delay on taking the officer into custody over confusion about what time he had to report to jail since he's serving his sentence on weekends.
After about a half an hour, Preston emptied his pockets, gave his wallet and money to his wife, kept his cigarettes, was handcuffed behind his back and led off to jail.
"This is as reprehensible a crime in a free and democratic society that one can imagine," prosecutor Ian Scott told Garton in arguing that both his earlier conviction and sentence should be upheld.
After his conviction, Preston had been suspended from work but at full pay under a special order by Chief Bill Blair.
Not only did the six-year veteran use "gratuitous violence," he then tried to frame Jama Jama for assault, lying to a sergeant at the station that the native of Somalia "gave him a shot," said Scott, a supposed punch during the arrest.
But the phantom punch was part of a "cover-up," one of 15 points of "fabricated evidence" attempted by Preston to hide his own crime, Scott told Garton.
Lawyer Alan Gold told the judge that when Preston got to the scene he believed Jama Jama was about to assault a man lying on the ground.
When Jama Jama refused to obey his orders, continued Gold, the officer was justified to punch him in the face "to bring him under control and ensure the officer's safety."
But when a videotape of the incident later surfaced, and was played again yesterday, it clearly showed Preston moving quickly towards Jama Jama as he backed up, giving no resistance to the officer who suddenly gave him a roundhouse left to the jaw.
Source: Toronto Star, Nov 17, 2007