Investigation finds 3 TTC officers used excessive force against man riding streetcar in February

An independent investigation into a violent arrest that occurred on Queen Street East on the 501 streetcar route in February found that three Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) officers used "unauthorized" and "unnecessary" force on a passenger and that their actions were "discriminatory."

A 12-second video of the arrest that occurred on Feb. 7 was posted to social media and showed two TTC staff members tackling a male rider and spraying him with a substance. 

On March 30, the TTC retained Rubin Thomlinson LLP, an independent workplace investigation firm to probe the arrest, said Brian Leck, general counsel at the TTC and Gemma Piemontese, the chief diversity and culture officer in a summary of the investigation document.

The video resulted in attention from media and members of the public and the investigation was called due to the "seriousness of the incident," said Leck and Piemontese in the document. 

The results of the probe, published Friday, found that two TTC special constables used "unnecessary" force against the passenger and one TTC fare inspector used "unauthorized and unnecessary force."

The investigation also found that both special constables determined their application of force against the man based on his mental health and this was found to be "discriminatory on the basis of disability," the document states.

They also state pepper spray was used against the man by a TTC employee.

Special constables 'escalated' fare inspection

In February, a witness on the streetcar who posted the video of the incident tweeted that the man on the streetcar appeared to be intoxicated and refused to engage with fare inspectors who were asking for proof of payment. 

"He blew them off. Then they insisted, stopped the streetcar, and as he got up they crowded in," the user tweeted. 

The Thomlinson probe found that initial interactions between the passenger and a total of four TTC staff were not inappropriate and those fare inspectors and special constables did not "raise their voices."

But then the passenger stood up, and that's when two special constables grabbed his arms and they "escalated" the situation, it states. The passenger and the special constables "pushed and punched each other" and they pushed the man's body into a seat, and he was pepper sprayed.

Then one fare inspector pressed two of her fingers in the back of the passengers neck for about 35 seconds, unprompted, the review states. 

After that, the special constables pulled the passenger up, handcuffed him and took him to a window of the streetcar and pushed him against it. They bent him over at a 90 degree angle and he was kept there for several minutes until police arrived.

The investigation notes that all four TTC officers who were on the streetcar were placed into the same room while they provided notes about what happened and they had discussed the incident among themselves, making their notes unreliable. Those notes were at odds with what "credible" witnesses had described, the probe states.

The investigator made the following four recommendations for the TTC:

• Improved training for special constables and fare inspectors on how they interact with people who have "mental health related illnesses." 
• Create rules around independent note taking. 
• Provide "clarity" on fare inspectors' use of force.
• Reconsider a ban from the Queen Street streetcar that's been placed on the passenger.

In the TTC document the agency says they will continue to work with the Toronto Ombudsman in order to "progress work underway to create a customer service oriented culture within the Special Constable Service and Revenue Protection, one free from bias and discrimination and responsive to the needs of all diverse customers."

All recommendations were accepted by the TTC. 

Excessive force concerns raised this summer

The arrest occurred as the TTC was ramping up enforcement around fare evasion after the TTC's audit committee estimated the agency lost around $70 million due to evasion in 2019. 

But the crackdown involving hefty fines led to critics calling out the TTC for being aggressive and accusatory in its methods, rather then addressing issues with the Presto method of paying or frequent route disruptions. 

This summer, as Torontonians protested to call for the defunding of police following worldwide Black Lives Matter protests and the death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet after she interacted with police, groups said at public police consultations that TTC fare inspectors and special constables should be removed due to issues with excessive force.