Pubdate: Sun, 16 Sep 2012
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2012 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Jim Rankin

KHAT BUST BY DISGRACED TORONTO POLICE DRUG SQUAD COPS HAUNTS TORONTO CAB DRIVER

Abdulkadir Mohamoud is a struggling Toronto cabbie and father of 
three. He would like to boost his typically meagre take-home pay by 
driving wheelchair taxis, under contract with the TTC.

Standing in the way is a 1999 run-in with a now-disgraced Toronto 
drug squad team that resulted in a broken arm and other injuries, and 
charges of possession of khat and assaulting police.

The charges were withdrawn without any conditions in 2000 but 
continue to show up in what is known as a "vulnerable sector check," 
which, under a TTC contract, must be clear for someone to drive a 
wheelchair cab.

Mohamoud believes being able to drive wheelchair cabs would boost his 
weekly income by about $150.

His wife has a cleaning job. The two have a daughter in university 
and two younger children who will soon be looking at college or 
university as well.

"We are surviving," Mohamoud, 52, says while waiting for calls at a 
North York gas station.

The Star first wrote of Mohamoud's encounter with police in 1999, and 
again in 2000, at a time when dozens of drug cases were imploding 
because of investigations into corruption in the Central Field 
Command team 3 drug squad.

This summer, five former members of team 3 - including John 
Schertzer, the boss of team 3, and Ned Maodus - were found guilty by 
a jury of attempting to obstruct justice over events unrelated to 
Mohamoud's story.

Their sentencing hearing is scheduled for November and an appeal is a 
possibility.

While charges went away for many serious alleged drug figures because 
officers were under the microscope, the circumstances surrounding 
Mohamoud's arrest, his injuries and outright withdrawal of charges 
support what he continues to maintain - that he did nothing wrong.

Team 3 of the Central Field Command drug squad, including officers 
Schertzer and Maodus, burst through the door of a west-end Toronto 
residence on April 27, 1999.

It would be one of their last busts.

By then, the behaviour of the team was on the radar of senior brass. 
There had been numerous complaints of excessive force, warrantless 
searches and theft.

That same month, a group of Toronto lawyers signed off on a letter 
that said they had clients who told similar stories of alleged abuse 
and rip-offs by the team.

Khat is a plant that when chewed produces mild stimulation. It is 
popular in the Canadian Somali and Ethiopian communities. While 
perfectly legal in some countries, in Canada khat's active 
ingredient, cathinone, is classified as a Schedule III illegal drug, 
along with other, stronger stimulants such as amphetamines.

In the '90s, Toronto police were cracking down and causing a stir as they did.

According to search warrant documents the Star viewed, an informant 
had told police about a home where high-quality khat could be bought, 
along with the name of a woman who sold it. Mohamoud was visiting the 
home when Schertzer, Maodus and other officers stormed in.

Police alleged Mohamoud had khat in his mouth, tried to escape and 
had to be subdued.

Mohamoud and others present said otherwise, and that police kicked 
him in the head while he was down, and that he became unconscious. 
When he awoke, he said, he was handcuffed and his feet were tied at 
the ankles with a telephone cord.

Mohamoud complained that he could barely breathe and called for help.

He alleged in his complaint that an officer other than Schertzer and 
Maodus came over, said "F---ing Somalians, why don't you do something 
with your lives," and stepped on him. That's when he heard his right 
arm crack. Police spent more than an hour in the house.

At one point, Mohamoud told the Star, restraints were removed and an 
officer asked him to touch his nose and he could not. An officer 
apologized, he said.

He was later taken to hospital, where his right arm was placed in a 
cast and his left, damaged during the arrest as well, had to be 
supported by a sling.

There were eight people at the house. The woman named by the 
informant was not among the occupants and was never arrested. 
Mohamoud was the only person charged.

A complaint Mohamoud filed against police was dismissed in 2000 due 
to insufficient evidence. A police investigator cited inconsistencies 
in civilian witness accounts and found the police version of events, 
gleaned from notes and written statements, consistent.

The criminal charges against Mohamoud were withdrawn without any 
conditions, says Toronto lawyer Paul Copeland, who represented Mohamoud.

Copeland says his client was badly treated by police and that he is 
trying to help him out of his situation with the background check. He 
wrote TTC general manager Andy Byford and TTC chair Karen Stintz 
asking for an exception.

There won't be one, a TTC spokesperson told the Star.

"Mr. Mohamoud will need to deal with Toronto police to have this 
issue cleared up," Danny Nicholson said in an email. "If, at a later 
date, Mr. Mohamoud is able to pass the check, the TTC will review his 
application."

Copeland is now going to try the police as well, but says he's not 
"wildly optimistic" and that charges without convictions, or cases 
that end in a peace bond, "really screw up a lot of people" when it 
comes to employment.

On Monday, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association plans to release 
a report criticizing the inclusion of withdrawn charges and simple 
contacts with police in background checks. Such inclusions "may 
undermine the presumption of innocence and lead to unwarranted 
discrimination and stigma," the CCLA said in a press release.

Mohamoud would love to see his record cleared up.

"That would be the best thing that ever happened to me," he says.

But he does not see the logic behind the TTC requirement for a clear 
check. His employer does not have a problem with him. And he drives 
ailing clients all the time.

"This is my dilemma," he says, pointing to a hospital near the gas 
station. "I could take a sick person from this hospital to their home 
but not a person with a wheelchair. It makes no sense."

Mohamoud watched with interest as the drug squad saga unfolded. Now 
that officers have been convicted by a jury, he believes police 
should cleanse his record.

"If I was a criminal, I would have done something (illegal) from then 
to now. My charges were withdrawn. It shouldn't hold me from this work." 
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