An off-duty Toronto cop who drove through a police blockade while impaired last year has been temporarily demoted, according to a recent tribunal decision.
A Toronto Police Services logo is shown at headquarters, in Toronto, on Friday, August 9, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher KatsarovThe ruling against Const. Kirk Ramphal – a demotion from rank of First Class Constable to Second Class Constable for 15 months – was handed down by Insp. Suzanne Redman, the hearing officer, on Tuesday.
At that time, two Toronto police cruisers in the area were blocking off a section of Kipling Avenue, south of Evans Avenue, as officers investigated a deadly car crash. The tribunal document noted that the two cruisers had their emergency lights on to prevent motorists from entering the area. After police spoke with Ramphal, they observed a “strong” odour of alcohol on his breath and found that his eyes were bloodshot. Ramphal admitted to the officers that he had consumed alcohol earlier in the evening. After failing a roadside screening test, he was arrested.
In April, Ramphal also pleaded guilty to discreditable conduct, the charge at the heart of the Toronto police disciplinary hearing.Matthew Capotosto, the prosecutor for the Toronto Police Service, called Ramphal’s driving “objectively very dangerous” and said that he “obviously” breached the public trust through his actions.
Ramphal’s defence, Sandy Khehra, agreed that there was “no denying” that alcohol played a part in Ramphal’s actions, but argued the officer was not oblivious to the blockade, but instead “curious” about the police activity, given that he lived in the division. Bent signs bolted to the rail threaten fines and imprisonment should violators cross the boundary into the United States, a warning many people are choosing to ignore simply by walking around the barrier.According to court documents, detectives reopened the cold case in 2017 and then worked with a forensics company to extract DNA from Baby Garnet's partial femur, before sending the results to Identifinders International.
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