SIU charges officer in Dorian Barton G20 case

A Toronto police officer has been charged in connection to injuries sustained by Dorian Barton, who claimed his arm was broken when he was assaulted by police during last June's G20 demonstrations.

Ontario's Special Investigations Unit, which reopened the case last month, said there was sufficient information gathered from numerous interviews to lay charges almost a year after the incident at Queen's Park in Toronto.

Toronto Police Const. Glenn Weddell was charged Friday with assault causing bodily harm.

Earlier, civilian witnesses told the SIU that Barton, who was taking pictures of mounted police officers, was struck with a riot shield and then hit with a baton after he fell to the ground.

But the SIU had maintained that none of the civilian witnesses were able to positively identify any of the officers involved. Photographs of the incident were shown to 11 officers, but the SIU said none of the officers could identify the perpetrator.

"As a result of information provided by the [Toronto Police Service] after May 26, 2011, the SIU conducted three further interviews of TPS members," Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Ian Scott said in a release.

"On the basis of information received in those interviews, and in conjunction with information gathered in the prior investigations, there are now reasonable grounds to believe that Toronto Police Constable Glenn Weddell committed the offence of assault causing bodily harm against Dorian Barton on June 26, 2010."

Weddell is scheduled to appear in an Ontario court on July 21.

Barton said he felt a sense of vindication following the news of the arrest.

"We are one step closer towards there being some kind of justice," he told CBC News. "So, definitely happy to hear that."

The SIU is an arm's-length agency that investigates reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.