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Concerns raised after TTC fare inspectors pin rider to ground, trigger large police response

So it looks like TTC Fare Enforcement have likely assaulted a child over a $3.00 transit fare. Reports are that the child was leaving the LRV as the fare inspectors were checking fares. A fare inspector then grabbed the child from behind by his the collar. The child apparently didn't give much physical resistance. Somehow that ended up with five officers pinning this child to the ground.

It turned out that the child actually paid their fare. No charges were laid against the child.

I'm going to wait for more concrete information before I call for blood. But lets just say that TTC Special Constables and Transit Enforcement have a long history of getting themselves in these kinds of altercations, and occasionally even outright corruption. I'm not inclined to give the officers the benefit of the doubt.
 
TheTigerMaster said:
So it looks like TTC Fare Enforcement have likely assaulted a child over a $3.00 transit fare.
Click to expand...
Star has coverage too.
TTC investigating after video shows fare inspectors in altercation with teen
Teen looked ‘terrified and humiliated,’ witness said.
[...]
McBride said the male, who she described as a Black teenager, allegedly shoved the officer who grabbed him.

“I did not hear anyone ask him for proof of payment before grabbing him,” McBride said.

Two officers removed the teenager from the streetcar and pinned him to the ground, putting him in handcuffs. McBride said he did not resist arrest. Three police officers joined the fare inspection officers to hold down the teenager.

“I didn’t do anything,” the teenager said in the video. “You’re hurting me!”
McBride said the teenager was allegedly held down for 20 minutes before being taken to a police car.

“He looked banged up, terrified and humiliated,” she said.

Toronto police told the Star that no criminal charges were laid. [...]
Click to expand...
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...fare-inspectors-in-altercation-with-teen.html

Being Black in Public. Lucky there were witnesses, or the cops would have beaten him or worse. I smell a legal settlement here, cuz sure as hell the TTC knows that criminal assault charges could and should be laid.

There's not going to be a problem finding witnesses to testify in this case. In fact, they may have to form a triple line.

Doing a cursory Google shows this:
TTC received 114 complaints about fare inspectors last year
Majority of cases involved allegations that an inspector was rude, while 27 involved allegations of discrimination.

By BEN SPURR Transportation Reporter

Fri., Feb. 10, 2017
Himel Khandker was infuriated when TTC fare inspectors stopped him on the 501 Queen streetcar last month and gave him a $235 ticket.

It wasn’t just the cost of the fine, which is no small amount for the 25-year-old biomedical engineering student. In part what bothered him was that he had paid for a student Metropass. He showed it to the inspectors, but he didn’t have the required TTC student ID.

The ticket stung, but what really aggravated him was that just two hours later, he watched as inspectors confronted two women on the 504 King streetcarwho he said didn’t have proof of payment. According to Khandker, one claimed she had dropped her transfer, while the other had one that was expired.

He was sure he was about to watch them get ticketed, but was incredulous when the inspectors let both off with a warning.

“I was kind of livid,” said Khandker. “Why is the enforcement not uniform?”

He began to wonder why he had been ticketed while others got off. “I’m a brown guy with a big beard. I’m a student, I don’t look like I’m a million bucks. Does that have anything to do with it? I wonder,” he asked.
[...]
Click to expand...
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...mplaints-about-fare-inspectors-last-year.html

Love this bit:
[...]
Mark Cousins, head of the TTC’s transit enforcement unit, said the agency takes such concerns seriously and that inspectors never target certain groups.
[...]
“We don’t just inspect certain individuals based on how they look,” he said.
[...]
He says the agency employs rigorous oversight of its inspectors, a key part of which is keeping a close track of public complaints.
[...]
“If you stop someone and the story that they tell seems reasonable” then they may get off with a warning, Cousins said.
[...]
Cousins said the agency is conscious of the potential for discrimination, which is why inspectors undergo six to seven days of training on diversity, inclusion and mental health issues.
[...]

And I save the best for last:
[Ross, the TTC spokesperson, had a message for anyone wondering why they get a ticket while another rider may not: “Today’s your turn, tomorrow it will be somebody else’s.”]
 
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It can’t be overstated how bad this looks for the TTC. We have a young black boy who paid his fare, did nothing wrong, wasn’t resisting, that somehow ended up on the floor pinned by five officers. The TEOs apparently grabbed him by the collar without even asking him to stop. If it weren’t for their rent-a-cop uniforms, this would be a textbook case of assault. You can’t go around grabbing people by their necks.

Anyways I don’t I have a ton of respect for the TEOs or Special Constables. They seem to be on a power trip while on their mission of protecting Torontonians from the scourge of stolen $3.00 fares, as they are regularly involved in these kinds of incidents. They have absolutely no conflict deescalation abilities whatsoever.
 
steveintoronto said:
Love this bit:
[...]
Mark Cousins, head of the TTC’s transit enforcement unit, said the agency takes such concerns seriously and that inspectors never target certain groups.
[...]
“We don’t just inspect certain individuals based on how they look,” he said.
[...]
He says the agency employs rigorous oversight of its inspectors, a key part of which is keeping a close track of public complaints.
[...]
“If you stop someone and the story that they tell seems reasonable” then they may get off with a warning, Cousins said.
[...]
Cousins said the agency is conscious of the potential for discrimination, which is why inspectors undergo six to seven days of training on diversity, inclusion and mental health issues.
[...]
Click to expand...

Har har, because we didn't know about the case of special ed "special" officers giving tickets to the homeless just so that they can slack off. As to the case of differential treatment - I am never the type who'd let people get off on warnings.

Wait till we find out how much the settlement will cost for this one.

AoD
 
TheTigerMaster said:
It can’t be overstated how bad this looks for the TTC. We have a young black boy who paid his fare, did nothing wrong, wasn’t resisting, that somehow ended up on the floor pinned by five officers. The TEOs apparently grabbed him by the collar without even asking him to stop. If it weren’t for their rent-a-cop uniforms, this would be a textbook case of assault. You can’t go around grabbing people by their necks.

Anyways I don’t I have a ton of respect for the TEOs or Special Constables. They seem to be on a power trip while on their mission of protecting Torontonians from the scourge of stolen $3.00 fares, as they are regularly involved in these kinds of incidents. They have absolutely no conflict deescalation abilities whatsoever.
Click to expand...
Incidents like this are exactly why the Special Constable program was disbanded the 1st time around. If they keep this up they'll have their powers significantly reduced and the TPS will start to have increased presense around the system.
 
Amare said:
Incidents like this are exactly why the Special Constable program was disbanded the 1st time around. If they keep this up they'll have their powers significantly reduced and the TPS will start to have increased presense around the system.
Click to expand...
The Special Constables are going to be putting distance between them and this, however. Remember, these are *fare inspectors*...no more power than a ticket collector in a booth....except for the Stasi powers they've anointed themselves with.

"Fare Interrogators" (Resistance will be punished).

I bet you someone's laughing in New York right now...(Byford)

But beyond the huge fug-up this is for the 'Interrogators'...what in hell were all those cops doing there? Sammy Yatim rides the rails again?
 
TTC should focus on and worry about their pathetic new plastic fare gates, if they want to avoid fare evasion. Like the Ossington Station secondary entrance on Delaware Avenue, many of these are constantly broken and cracked open. Redesigning and fixing those gates would be a much more efficient way of tackling revenue leak than going after random kids.
 
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Avenue said:
TTC should focus on and about their pathetic new plastic faregates if they want to avoid fare evasion. Like the Ossington Station secondary entrance on Delaware Avenue, many of these are constantly broken and cracked open. Redesigning and fixing those gates would be a much more efficient way of tackling revenue leak than going after random kids.
Click to expand...

Should have just stuck with the turnstiles and maybe even the tokens (with the potential to use presto if you have it).
 
Streety McCarface said:
Should have just stuck with the turnstiles and maybe even the tokens (with the potential to use presto if you have it).
Click to expand...
Looking at this in retrospect, you may be right, but there might have been the engineering challenge of mating sensors and actuators to the old style turnstiles, but it's hard to disagree with your gist. I've thought similar a number of times...the age of some of them alone was testimony to how rugged and well-built they were.

"New Improved Plastic Jiffy Gates!...just add money!"
 
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