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GAY ABBATE
The Globe and Mail
Saturday, July 29, 2000
Toronto -- A police officer charged with neglect of duty confronted his accuser yesterday at a Police Act trial in which credibility was the key issue.
Constable Mark Denton, an 18-year veteran, and Selwyn Pieters, who has alleged that the officer harassed him because of his skin colour, each attacked the other's credibility.
Superintendent Ed Hoey, who adjudicated the internal police-tribunal hearing, will have to decide which man he found more believable.
Constable Denton is charged under the Police Services Act with insubordination and neglect of duty. On trial with him is Constable Michael Abbott, who is also charged with insubordination. If convicted, the penalties range from a reprimand to loss of rank to dismissal.
The charges were laid after Mr. Pieters, 32, a former jail guard, filed a complaint following a confrontation in his apartment building in March, 1998. The officers were there to arrest a drug dealer. Mr. Pieters alleged that the two police officers refused to identify themselves and that Constable Denton made an obscene gesture with his finger. Mr. Pieters was not arrested.
Constable Denton testified yesterday that he told Mr. Pieters he was a police officer when Mr. Pieters ran toward him, shouting and swearing that police were stalking him. The officer denied being rude.
Constable Denton also faces a criminal charge of possession of hashish for the purposes of trafficking. That charge was laid in November, after the Ontario Provincial Police stopped his vehicle in York Region. He was off duty at the the time. He was suspended with pay pending the outcome of the charges.
Despite not having a law degree, Mr. Pieters represented himself at yesterday's hearing. His questioning of Constable Denton was often rambling and unfocused, irritating Supt. Hoey and prompting angry outbursts from the two defence lawyers.
Reprinted under the Fair Use doctrine of international copyright law.
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This page created September 9, 2000
