Inquiry determines officer who bullied reporter should be docked eight hours’ pay
A Toronto police officer who bullied a reporter in court this April should be docked eight hours’ pay, concluded an internal Toronto police inquiry.
A Toronto police officer who bullied a reporter in court this April should be docked eight hours’ pay, concluded an internal Toronto police inquiry.
Freelance reporter Shannon Kari, who was working the day of the incident for The Globe and Mail, says he was called an offensive name in the courtroom and again later in the hallway, according to a story in the Toronto Star.
Kari was covering the sentencing of police officer Christopher Higgins, who was found guilty of breaking a prisoner’s arm in 2004.
More than 50 officers and family were also at the sentencing, and when they arrived they asked Kari to move from the front row so they could sit together. Kari refused, although, according to the Star, respectfully so.
That’s when he says the officer called him an offensive name.
Yet, although the report’s conclusion may be heartening for reporters, it is not binding — only a recommendation from professional standards. Police have not commented on whether the officer’s pay was, indeed, docked.
