Toronto Police Services constable Edward Ing hit the jackpot with his retrial on charges of police brutality. Despite a scathing indictment of his actions by the judge in his first trial, Justice Steven Clark managed to rule:
“There was an air of reality to his explanation.”
Wow. Really?
That's a far cry from what Justice J.E. Allen said while convicting Edward Ing in his first trial.
“This behaviour we expect from gang members on the street, not the police.”
“This crime is not the anomalous behaviour of two otherwise good officers. It is a predictable result of a culture which rejects discipline, and which appears to prevail at this division.”
There is a gross double-standard in Canada when it comes to dealing with police charged with crimes.
Were you or I to beat the crap out of someone simply because we didn't like what they said, as Constable Ing did, we'd be spending a very long time in prison.
But you and I are not members of a police force, are we? No, we're not, and that's why the rules are very different for mere citizens than they are for police thugs like Edward Ing.
We're not talking about the kind of "beating the crap out of someone" like happened in grade school where the only damage someone received was perhaps a black eye, a bruised ego and little else.
No, Toronto Police Services constable Edward Ing and his partner constable John Cruz beat 61-year-old Richard Moore so badly he was hospitalized with fractured ribs, a broken finger, dislocated shoulder, a gash to his scalp and abrasions to his abdomen, hip and shoulder.
That's police brutality, pure and simple.
Justice Allen was correct when he said this kind of behaviour is what "we expect from gang members on the street, not the police."
Now, don't get me wrong... there are two sides to every story, but that doesn't really help in Ing's case because his side of the story is pretty ridiculous.
He claimed Mr. Moore was drunk, an allegation that was proven in court to be a lie. He then claimed Mr. Moore "fell down" and was not beaten at all.
Clearly this time Edward Ing found a judge willing to believe his absurd story and he will now be reinstated fully to the Toronto Police Service.
Is anyone in Toronto willing to bet this is the last time we hear "constable Edward Ing" and "police brutality" in the same sentence?
I'm certainly not.
Here are my previous articles on this case:
