Pubdate: Fri, 27 Jan 2006
Source: Mississauga News (CN ON)
Copyright: The Mississauga News 2006
Contact:  http://www.mississauganews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/268
Author: Louie Rosella
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?216 (CN Police)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

FORMER ARGO TO SUE PEEL FORCE OVER FALSE ARREST

A former Toronto Argonaut football star recently acquitted of
assaulting police and possessing cocaine has retained a high-profile
human rights lawyer and is filing a lawsuit against the Peel Regional
Police force.

Orlando Bowen, 30, says he was wrongfully arrested and unfairly
targeted the evening of March 26, 2004, when two Peel police officers
arrested him outside the Locomotion strip club on Eglinton Ave. in
Mississauga, and charged him with assaulting police with intent to
resist arrest and possession of cocaine.

Bowen maintained he was searched without cause and assaulted by the
officers, who he claims planted the cocaine to justify their action.

Last month, an Ontario court judge acquitted Bowen on all charges,
ruling the testimony of arresting officers Sheldon Cook and Grant
Gervais was "incredible and unworthy of belief."

Bowen has retained the services of Julian Falconer, a human rights
lawyer who specializes in misconduct cases against police.

In an interview with The News, Falconer confirmed the lawsuit, which
will name Peel Regional Police and the officers involved, will be
filed with the court in the upcoming weeks.

"At this stage, I have instructions to prepare a lawsuit," said
Falconer. "Mr. Bowen has little choice but to do this because there is
an extremely poor record of performance on the part of government for
shining the light of scrutiny on these kinds of things."

Peel Police Chief Mike Metcalf said Friday he wouldn't comment on the
pending lawsuit until it's official and he's had a chance to look at
it.

Metcalf did say, however, that his force is conducting an
"administrative review" of the Bowen case to see what mistakes were
made and "whether we can do better next time."

The review will be completed in the spring, Metcalf
said.

Falconer and Bowen said they have yet to determine the financial
stipulations of the lawsuit.

"The priority here isn't about money. It's about accountability,"
Falconer said.

Bowen is a married father of two who partnered with police to teach
youths to stay away from criminality before he was arrested. He added
Friday the suit "is about ensuring that this doesn't happen to anyone
else again. Nobody should have to go through what I went through."

Falconer said what happened to Bowen was an "abomination."

The lawsuit will explore a number of issues, including racial
profiling, police corruption, and "what kind of supervision mechanisms
are in place by the Peel Police service that would have allowed this
to happen," said Falconer.

The Crown's case against Bowen suffered a huge blow in November of
2005, after one of the officers who arrested the football player was
himself charged with drug possession and drug trafficking.

Cook, a 14-year veteran of the Peel force, was charged by the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on Nov. 18 after federal officers
tracked a shipment of cocaine from Pearson International Airport to a
home in Cambridge, where they discovered 15 kilograms of cocaine with
a street value of more than $500,000. The case is still before the
courts.

The charges against Cook were laid after closing arguments had been
heard in Bowen's case. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake