Officer, brother must stay away from Dafonte Miller as part of bail conditions
Newly released court documents allege Theriault brothers intended to mislead investigators about incident
The Toronto police constable and his brother who are charged in the alleged beating of Dafonte Miller in Whitby last December cannot possess weapons and must stay away from the young man, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Const. Michael Theriault and his brother, Christian Theriault, a civilian, must also tell the province's Special Investigations Unit, which laid the charges against them, within 48 hours if they change their job or their address.
The pair also cannot have contact with Miller's family, witnesses in the case or Durham police, the force that first responded to the incident.
Miller, 20, was allegedly chased down a streetand hit repeatedly with a steel pipe by two men inWhitbyon Dec.28, 2016. He suffered a broken nose, jaw and wrist and is awaiting surgery to remove an injured eye.
The Theriault brothers have both been charged with aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and public mischiefin connection with the case.
The Crown and defence lawyers had been in court Friday to make their arguments on the conditions of bail. Details of the evidence, arguments and rulings in the case are subject to a publication ban.
Court documents released
Documents detailing the charges against the Theriault brothers were made public Wednesday. Regarding the public mischief charge that each is facing, the SIU investigator alleges in the documents that the two men "did with intent to mislead, cause a peace officer to enter upon or continue an investigation and thereby commit public mischief," contrary to section 140 of the Criminal Code.
Miller was originally charged with five offences, including theft under $5,000, two counts of assault, possession of a weapon and possession of marijuana. Those charges were all withdrawn following a pretrial hearing on May 5.
Julian Falconer, one of Miller's lawyers, has said that on the night of the alleged incident, his client and two friends were walking down Erickson Drive in Whitby, headed to the home of another friend shortly before 3 a.m. when two men later identified as the Theriault brothers confronted them.
CBC Toronto obtained court documents from Falconer that includethe originalreport filed by a Durham Regional Police Service officer, who responded to the 911 call made during the incident.
According to the initial police report, it was alleged that Miller had stolen money from John Theriault, father to the brothers charged. Reports also alleged that a car was broken into that night.
Another of Miller's lawyers, Asha James, said last week that her client and his friends were not stealing from parked cars prior to the incident.
"Dafonte denies theallegations," James said. She stated her client claims he was "in no way even close to these gentlemen's vehicles."
Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse Wednesday, James said Miller is struggling to recover and keeping mostly to himself.
"He's taking it day by day. He's not the same person that he was before this happened," she said.
James also said she was disappointed with the Theriaults'bail conditions, especially as compared with the conditions imposed on Miller when he was originally charged, which included being subject to a curfew and being prohibited from consuming alcohol.
Miller was given medical assistance and officers "interviewed multiple people, evidence was collected and photographs were taken as part of our investigation," according to a statement by Durham Regional Police Service Chief Paul Martin issued last Friday.
Durham officers notified Toronto police the day of the alleged incident of Michael Theriault's alleged involvement. The Toronto police SIU liaison officer declined at the time to refer the issue to the SIU, which investigates incidents that involvepolice andresult in serious injury or death, or include allegations of sexual assault.
Martin has said he would expect the force that employs the officer in question, in this case the Toronto Police Service, to notify the SIU. However, former SIU directors have told CBC Toronto that the SIU should be called the minute an officer is believed to be involved in an incident.
Itwas Falconer, however, who first notified the SIU of the incident in late April.
Martin has ordered a review of his force's handling of the case, to be run by his deputy, and Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders has asked Waterloo police to conduct the Section 11 review of his force's actions. Such a probe is mandatory in the wake of an SIU investigation, but calling in an outside force to conduct it is not.
Meanwhile, the Theriaults are scheduled to next appear in court on Aug. 10.
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