Officers charged

Page 10

Only days after Windspeaker reported that a police cover-up was being alleged in the very public beating of a Native man in Toronto, two city police officers were arrested.

After a four-month investigation by members of Internal Affairs, the officers were charged on Sept. 26 with assaulting Ramsey Whitefish on June 2 in the Bloor Street West and Borden Street area of the city.

Roger Obonsawin, a member of the Aboriginal Peoples Council of Toronto, a group that complained about the slow pace of the investigation, said he was told that the decision to arrest and charge the officers was based on DNA evidence allegedly found on the officers' boots. Witnesses allege that Whitefish was kicked, stomped and punched by two police officers.

Charged with one count of assault each are police constables James Rowe and Dion Monahar, both of 14 Division. Rowe has been a member of the service for two years and Monahar for three. They were released from custody with conditions and will appear in court on Nov. 7.

At the time of their arrest the officers were suspended from duty with pay in accordance with the province's Police Services Act.

Obonsawin said members of his council believe the arrests should have been made long ago.

"The whole thing hinged on the DNA evidence. We were pushing that they didn't need to wait for that evidence because they had 13 eyewitnesses," he said.

Native people in the city have also questioned the charges, saying assault causing bodily harm, a more serious charge, would have been more appropriate.