3 Toronto police officers face more perjury, obstructing justice charges
CBC News | Posted: February 22, 2016 8:42 PM | Last Updated: February 22, 2016
Charges stem from same 2014 incident
Three of the four Toronto police officers facing criminal charges of perjury and obstructing justice are facing more charges.
Toronto police announced the new charges on Monday and said they are connected to the same 2014 incident as the initial charges, which were laid in late January.
Last September, an Ontario Superior Court judge dismissed a case against a man who was arrested and accused of possessing heroin following a traffic stop.
Justice Edward Morgan concluded the officers concocted a false story about why they stopped the man and searched his car.
Morgan also ruled the officers falsely testified they found loose heroin powder on the dashboard, which led to a search that uncovered 11 more grams of the drug wrapped and hidden behind the car's steering column.
Morgan ruled the drugs seized during the search were not admissible as evidence and dismissed the charges against the man.
Combined, the four officers now face 22 charges in total. The five new charges are as follows:
- Const. Jeffrey Tout, 41, 17 years of service, assigned to 55 Division. It is alleged he provided false court testimony, and is charged with two counts of obstructing justice and two counts of perjury.
- Det. Const. Benjamin Elliott, 32, nine years of service, 55 Division. Charged with three counts of obstructing justice and three counts of perjury.
- Det. Const. Fraser Douglas, 37, 14 years of service, 55 Division. Charged with two counts of obstructing justice, two counts of perjury.
Const. Michael Taylor also faces two counts of obstructing justice and one count of perjury, however he wasn't charged with anything new on Monday.
The officers are set to appear in court on March 11.