A Toronto Busker Claims He Was Harassed by the Same Cop Filmed Bullying a Bystander

Shawn Gill, right, obstructs a cameraman's view of two young men being carded along with Brian Smith, left.

A Toronto busker says the same police officer who was seen on video earlier this week harassing a bystander "threatened and intimidated" him without cause last year.

Sebastian Brown, 23, contacted VICE after reading a story about two Toronto cops who tried to intimidate a man who was filming an arrest in a parking lot near Jane Street and Lawrence Avenue.

Soon after Brown started playing the video, he recognized one of the officers—Constable Shawn Gill.

"I was just shocked," he said of the video. "This is somebody who shouldn't be policing."

Brown said he was riding his bike in the east end of the city last year alongside a police cruiser; while he was crossing an intersection he said one of the officers in the car ordered him to pull over. He agreed, but said he continued crossing the intersection before stopping. The two cops then approached him.

"[Gill] stood right in front of me, he couldn't have been closer," said Brown, noting that Gill then accused him of trying to flee the scene, "which is absolutely not the case."

Brown, who told VICE he doesn't drink alcohol, said Gill then suggested he seemed intoxicated. After asking if he had any drugs or weapons on him—Brown said he didn't—the officers said they couldn't believe him without searching his backpack. They also patted him down.

"I didn't want him to search the bag and that irritated [Gill], so then he said 'we could do this the easy way or the hard way.'"

At the time, Brown said he felt "terrified."

"I thought he was threatening violence against me." So he agreed to let the cops look through his stuff. They found $600, for which he produced a bank receipt, and nothing else of consequence, according to Brown.

Meantime, he said, three additional cop cars rolled up to the scene. In total, eight officers were present.

"I'm one kid on my bike and eight police officers—it's just so excessive," he said. "It would be one thing if I had some huge car and they needed eight officers to take me down."

The exchange ended with Gill issuing Brown a warning for "fail to stop." VICE has viewed the incident report, which includes Gill's name and badge number.

"[Gill] said 'You were this close to having something a lot worse happen to you'," Brown alleges.

Ultimately he decided against filing a complaint at the time because he wasn't fined or charged with anything. But after seeing Gill's behaviour in the video, he's having second thoughts about that decision. He said he hopes the fallout from the video will force Gill to re-evaluate his tactics.

"You're working in a community, you're supposed to on the people's side and you're pitting yourself against them. It damages public confidence and it damages people's trust."

Toronto police spokeswoman Meaghan Gray could not confirm the allegations.

She said Gill's superior is aware of the video incident but that any disciplinary action taken would remain a private personnel matter.

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