'Evasive' Hamilton police officers racially profiled Black man in 2022 traffic stop, judge says
Race, not obstructed plates, led to a traffic stop, Ontario Superior Court justice finds
Two Hamilton police constables racially profiled a young Black man then breached his Charter rights when they detained him and searched his car in 2022, an Ontario Superior Court justice ruled.
Police violated the 27-year-old man's rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Justice Michael Bordin said in a 30-page decision released March 4. Those breaches were "very serious" and infringed on his right not to be arbitrarily detained, his right to be informed of the reason for arrest or detention and his right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure.
Police found drugs and a gun in the man's car and charged him with several related crimes, including possession of a firearm without a licence. But due to the constables' actions prior, "I conclude that the admission of the evidence would bring the administration of justice into disrepute," Bordin said, and excluded that evidence.
Without that evidence, he said, the Crown could not prove the offences beyond a reasonable doubt. Bordin acquitted the man of all charges.
Police say training has improved since 2022 Charter violation
"We take this matter seriously," the Hamilton Police Service said in a March 5 news release, adding it referred the decision to the police's professional standards branch for review.
"We recognize the impact of these decisions on our community and remain committed to ensuring fair and impartial policing in Hamilton."
Since the incident, the service has implemented measures including "enhanced training" on Charter rights and unconscious bias, as well as a race and identity-based data strategy to "strengthen public trust and enhance community safety," the police said.
Police evidence was 'inconsistent' and 'not credible,' justice says
As Bordin described, police said on July 5, 2022, officers pulled the man over because his vehicle's licence plates were obscured, contrary to the Highway Traffic Act. After an interaction, they demanded his keys and the man ran away. The police said that he abandoned the vehicle, meaning they were entitled to search it.
The man countered that the traffic stop was a "pretext," and really, he was stopped because he is a young Black man.
The man said he was driving back to Toronto through Hamilton when he passed the officers. He pulled over and backed into a parking spot in front of an industrial building on Princess Street in Hamilton's Gibson neighbourhood because he had to pee, he said. Police parked in front of his car, blocking it in.
During the traffic stop, the man said the police began investigating what they believed may be a stolen vehicle without any basis and without advising him of the reason for the stop, or his right to legal counsel. He said the demand for his keys was an unlawful seizure, he did not abandon the vehicle and the search was illegal too.
Overall, Bordin said he found the man "credible." He had a different assessment of the police constables, finding one was "not credible," repeatedly refused to answer questions directly, was "evasive, argumentative and combative," and "gave implausible and at times incredulous answers." The other presented evidence that "was at times not credible, evasive, and internally inconsistent," he said.
Judge found man was not told why he was stopped
The man's version of events differed from the officers' at times, and the officers' evidence was contradictory at times, Bordin said. He presented what the three parties said in his decision, as well as his own assessment of what happened.
Bordin found that after boxing his car in, the constables asked the man if he worked at the business. "I find he was not told that he was being stopped because of obstructed plates," Bordin said.
The man asked why he was being stopped and questioned the police's authority to stop him. They told him he was being detained but not why," Bordin said. The officers asked him who owned the car and whether he was sure it was not stolen. He told them it was a rental.
The man gave police his licence and they asked their colleagues to run a check on him. They did not receive an immediate response. One officer testified she thought the car was probably stolen but did not tell the man that. The officers said they asked for the man's keys and he ran away.
Police said man's plates obstructed; judge didn't believe them
Bordin said he does not accept the officers observed the vehicle's front plates to be obstructed and has "serious doubts" they viewed the rear plates at all. He said some photos of the car taken later appear to show they were partially obscured by dirt and a clear plate cover, but that officers could still read the licence plate to check it.
The justice also disagreed with one constable, saying the plates may have appeared obscured due to glare from the sun. He said the sun could not have been positioned as the officer described it, given the location and time of day.
"As a result, I am left with the conclusion that something else motivated the officers," Bordin said.
Bordin said racial profiling happens when racial stereotypes influence how officers select suspects.
The officers told the court they could not see the driver when they decided to conduct a traffic stop, but Bordin said that on the evidence, he concluded at least one officer "looked inside the vehicle but refuses to admit she did."
He added that conclusion was "underscored" by her refusal to acknowledge the man is Black "because, in her words, she does not 'know how he identifies himself.'"
He said the other officer's evidence masked an "unconscious decision" to stop the man because of his race, and ultimately, police stopped the man "because of racial stereotypes related to propensity to offend."
Judge finds search unlawful
The judge also said the police had "no basis" to investigate the car as stolen and no reason to ask for the man's keys. The officers told the court they did so to protect their own safety and that of the public, but Bordin said some of their reasoning was exaggerated and they had "no objective evidence" the man was dangerous.
Furthermore, Bordin said, the man running away in response to an "unlawful demand" for his car keys did not constitute grounds for a search of his car. Therefore, the search was unlawful too.
Public confidence in police is crucial, but it is "undermined by conscious racial profiling and attempts to obfuscate police motives," Bordin wrote. "Without that confidence, the relationship between police and the public becomes dysfunctional, leading to distrust, confrontation, and greater risk both to officers and the public they serve and protect."
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