Month: October 2016

Allegations of criminal behaviour should always be taken seriously and dealt with appropriately. Drug-related charges can be especially difficult to deal with, and may be highly disruptive to the accused person's life. A Toronto business owner facing charges of drug trafficking now knows this firsthand. On Oct. 25, 2016, Toronto police executed two search warrants in connection with an alleged drug trafficker in the East York neighbourhood of O'Connor-Parkview. Restaurant 27, a take-out and catering restaurant at 971 O'Connor Drive, was entered and searched by police officers. Police report that a variety of drugs were seized, including cocaine, marijuana, crack, Percocet, Lorazapam, Oxycodone and morphine. The…

Recovering from a serious car accident can be a difficult process. Knowing that accident claimed the lives of two others would make it beyond painful. Sadly, that's the situation for a man accused of impaired driving after an accident north of Toronto this past summer. The accident took place on Aug. 29, 2016 at approximately 9:40 a.m. in Markham, Ontario. A 42-year old woman, along with her 4-year old daughter, had brought her husband to the Markham GO station. After seeing him off, the two were returning home in their car when a second vehicle allegedly entered their lane and collided with them.…

When a person is caught completely unawares, it can make explaining the situation very difficult. And, when the consequences of the situation may result in incarceration, it's an extremely serious matter. Just such a matter now faces a southwestern Ontario man who chose the wrong spot for a nap, and ended up with drug traffickingcharges laid against him. Police were alerted to a suspicious vehicle in Windsor early in the morning of Oct. 21, 2016. Officers arrived to find a car stopped on Menard Street with its running lights on. An unconscious man was found draped over the steering wheel. Drugs and related…

Determining whether a driver has been impaired by alcohol is usually a straightforward matter. By administering a breath test, a police officer can tell with some certainty if an individual has a blood alcohol level that exceeds the legal limit in Ontario. However, what happens in cases in which impaired driving is believed to be the result of drug use? Currently, there is no established legal limit in this province for concentrations of the active components of drugs in the blood. Additionally, there is no device to measure such levels, even if a limit did exist. Right now, officers trained as Drug Recognition…

Citizens of Ontario have a right to fair treatment at the hands of the law, regardless of who they are. The mere suspicion of wrong-doing is not justification for detention, or arrest. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened to a Toronto man who was detained and searched without probable cause. On Aug. 21, 2008, Toronto Police officers stopped a man who had just parked his Jaguar near Parkdale Collegiate, in the Queen St. W. and Lansdowne Ave. area. The two arresting officers gave different reasons to the court for the stop, one saying it was for a seat belt infraction, the other claiming…

The ongoing dispute between citizens and marijuana dispensaries in Toronto shows no sign of abating. While drug trafficking charges have been laid in some cases, these businesses often operate in a legal grey area. A catastrophic event at one Forest Hill dispensary has brought a lot of attention to the neighbourhood, and legal trouble for one man. An explosion on Aug. 19, 2016, at a marijuana dispensary on Eglinton Ave. W. shattered a storefront window, spraying glass across the sidewalk and into the street. The blast caused severe burns to the face of a 29-year old Niagara man working inside. Toronto…

Few people set out to cause trouble, or put themselves and others in danger. Unfortunately, the consumption of alcohol can set otherwise well intentioned people on the road to trouble. Such may have been the case for one man arrested for drinking and driving in northern Ontario this summer. Early in the morning of July 16, 2016, Greater Sudbury Police responded to a call from a downtown bar doorman who was concerned an apparently inebriated patron was about to drive his car. The police arrived in time to see the suspect leave the scene in his car, and attempted to pull…

An upswing in the use of the powerful drug fentanyl has brought with it an increased level of police scrutiny of the street drug trade. For those caught in the dragnet, the potential repercussions are severe. Two southwestern Ontario men are now facing drug trafficking charges after being targeted by a months-long police investigation. Two men were arrested on Sept. 21, 2016 by Waterloo Regional Police on Lester Street, not far from both Wilfred Laurier University and the University of Waterloo. As a result of the arrest, a search warrant was executed, and a home in Guelph was raided. All of this sprung from…

When a person's job requires him or her to be in a position of trust, anything that erodes that trust can be a major problem. An accusation of sexual assault is a serious allegation that can prove extremely damaging, especially for an educator. A Toronto man now faces this situation after charges were filed against him, stemming from an alleged incident that happened approximately six years ago. On Sept. 27, 2016, Toronto Police arrested a 36-year old teacher and charged him with sexual assault and sexual interference. The incident allegedly took place while he was working as a daycare supervisor in Scarborough…

When tempers flare, rash decisions often follow. Downtown Toronto was the scene of an accidental shooting this past spring, a direct result of one such decision. A west GTA man finds himself charged with several violent crimes after a late night argument got out of hand, and an unlucky bystander was injured. The incident took place on April 25, 2016 near Dundas Street West and Euclid Avenue. A group of people was engaged in an argument around 12:30 a.m. when one man allegedly drew a gun on the group. He apparently fired the weapon toward the group but missed all of them. The bullet did…