12mo ago

Toronto police investigating after video appears to show officer giving citizen the middle finger

toronto.ctvnews.ca

Toronto police say an internal investigation is underway after a video circulating on social media appeared to show an officer giving a citizen the middle finger over an argument about alleged illegal parking last week.

In the video, which has been viewed more than 425,000 times on TikTok, two Toronto police officers are seen ordering Starbucks in the area of Front and Berkeley streets near the city’s Distillery District on Friday afternoon.

The exchange continues for several minutes and the officers eventually get back in their cruiser. The video then shows one of them giving the citizen the middle finger from the passenger seat of the cruiser.

The individual who took the video later told CP24 that he doesn’t believe the officer knew they were being filmed as by that point he had put away the body camera he was using previously. The footage, he said, came from a pair of glasses with a built-in camera.

29 comments

LOL. Canadians are so polite. They are actually investigating the police for shooting a bird. In the US we don't even bother with that when they shoot a person.
- How effing nice would it be for our biggest problems with police to be that they park illegally and give people the bird sometimes.
  
  If that is the implication you are drawing from this article, you are incorrect about the situation in Toronto. Very much so.
- This isn’t being investigated due to the bird. It’s due to the illegal parking in a bike lane. Someone died a week or so ago in Toronto due to a construction bin being left in the bike lane.
  
  I know I'm going to regret this but how does a person die from an errant construction bin? Couldn't see?
- There will always be rude people in every country. I hate stereotypeing people or countries.
  
  Of course you're right but I'm sorry there ARE trends in countries due to cultural differences.
- No, this is just what they allow to be reported so you think that.
  
  Which? The fact that Canadians are polite or the fact that cops don't get investigated for crimes in America?
Great but... What's there to investigate? They parked illegally, they refused to even say "oopsie", let alone ticket themselves as they should, and then gave the finger. It's all on a few minutes video, this is not rocket science.
Just punish this behaviour accordingly, put them on a week of unpaid leave and require them to take some training or something, tell the rest of the police force to start fucking behaving themselves like the example they are supposed to be.
No investigation required
As always, ACAB.
What a fucking moron. They're cops. They get to be as close to their vehicle as possible while on-duty in case shit goes down. They're also humans, so they get to fucking eat and have breaks while on-duty.
It would've been bitter-sweet if a radio shout "Shots fired" at some address a few blocks away, dropping their food and racing away. Like, yeah, that's obviously why they chose a coffee shop with a loading zone out front, idiot.
- Nah cops should not get to park like massive twats wherever they feel like. Contrary to popular belief cops aren't above the law and there are no parking exemptions for cops getting food.
- And yet somehow, paramedics and fire department aren't ever illegally parked while their lights are off, and yet still meet all the same requirements of being as close to their vehicle while on-duty in case shit goes down, and last time I checked, are also human.
  
  You should go to a police station, an ambulance dispatch, and a fire station, and ask them why civic services operate the way they do around this stuff.
- I've worked many jobs that don't let you leave to get coffee or food. Maybe these cops should have to pack their lunches and carry them in their vehicles for the day. Y'know, since it's critical that they are always close to their vehicles. It's so critical that they need to break the law to get food. They may as well bring their own food to stop their illegal behaviour and ensure they get to those "shots fired" calls quicker!
- And if that was part of standard operation, the cops could perhaps have done their job and explained that to the citizen whom they serve, without subsequently flipping them off.
- Police officers also have to follow the law. Only in specific circumstances to they get to break certain very specific laws, like drive through a red light.
  They're police officers, they are supposed to give the right example, ALWAYS. They're supposed to at least try to be better than the rest of us. Parking where it's dangerous can't be just waved away with a pretext like "I need quick access tpy car"
- Damn life must be hard with such a low cognitive potential. My condolences.
  
  Sounds like that sits in your pocket waiting to be used for opportunistic situations. You used the term "cognitive" inappropriately and applied the whole thing out of context anyway. Not to mention "cognitive potential" obviously makes no scientific sense, despite what you may have learned from BuzzFeed articles and Facebook IQ quizzes.
  If you're going to attempt a cognition insult, avoid being ironic with it.
  Damn, life must be hard with such low cognition.
  Or...
  Damn, life must be hard with limited cognitive functions.
  There. Now you sound just that little bit smarterer. Next step is to look up what "cognition" and "cognitive functions" are so you know the difference and which one to use when. Now you can pull that zinger out of your pocket at advantageous times for true big brain bang bang.

29 comments