Assault was apparently in retaliation for protesting outside of 14 Division to demand justice for Sammy Yatim.
Decolonize North America activist Davyn Calfchild was riding his bike in Toronto yesterday when, according to Davyn, he was stopped by Constable Haroon of 14 Division, citing a lack of a bell on Davyn's bicycle.
Davyn says the officer proceeded to threaten him and warned him against coming around "our house" meaning 14 Divison (the site of a protest for Sammy Yatim which Davyn attended). According to Davyn, Constable Haroon threatened violence against Davyn's family - his wife and 1 year old son - if Davyn were to protest again outside of 14 Division in Toronto's West-End.
Davyn was not arrested or charged with any criminal offense but was apparently cuffed by Officer Haroon. Davyn was heavily beaten as can be seen from video evidence of his wounds. Darryl Richardson of the Toronto Media Co-op and Zach Ruiter of the Indignants interviewed Davyn as he was registering for admission to the emergency room where Davyn showed his injuries - a bruised and possibly broken left cheek bone, cut lip, bruised elbow, bruised right shoulder, scraped knees, other scrapes consistent with police brutality including marks from cuffs that were too tight. Davyn believes he was targeted as a visible activist active in many causes including IDLE NO MORE, but specifically for his role in protesting the police with Justice for Sammy Yatim who was shot 9 times by Officer Forcillo and then tasered by a supervisor.
Davyn now has multiple tickets from Officer Haroon such as riding through a red light and not having a bell on his bicycle. These fines have totalled several hundred dollars. Constable Haroon also confiscated Davyn's status card without cause or explanation.
The authors attended 14 Division shortly after the incident but received a `no comment` from the desk sergeant on duty who directed them to media relations at Police HQ.
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