Officers Guilty of Assault

Off-duty constables beat innocent teen during an arrest

RYAN SCULLION: Ajax teen was thrown to the ground and received blows and kicks to his head and body from two Toronto police officers. He was released within hours of his arrest, which occurred in June, 1998, when he was 15.

An Oshawa judge has slammed the credibility of two Toronto police officers after finding them guilty of assaulting an Ajax teen.

In his ruling yesterday Mr. Justice Greg Regis of the Ontario Court of Justice, said off-duty Toronto police constables Al Flis and Pietro Grande went beyond the call of duty while trying to apprehend someone they thought was a suspect in an investigation about a stolen van.

The suspect turned out to be an innocent 15-year-old, Ryan Scullion, who was waiting for bus to take him home late on the night of June 1, 1998.

During the arrest, Scullion was thrown to the ground and received blows and kicks to his head and body. He was released within hours of his arrest.

``Both officers were bad witnesses,'' Regis said. ``I do not believe they told the truth about their dealings with Mr. Scullion.''

Regis criticized the demeanour and attitude of the two officers in court and said their ``credibility could not survive the cross-examination'' of Crown Attorney Cindy Johnston.

The incident began about 10 p.m. when Flis was driving along Highway 401 to his Ajax home. He spotted what he suspected to be a stolen van with five occupants aged 15 to 17.

Flis, an undercover drug squad officer in Scarborough, called 911 and followed the van to a driveway in a house near Highway 401 and Westney Rd.

Without waiting for Durham Region police to arrive, Flis tried to arrest the suspects alone by approaching the van with a drawn semi-automatic pistol.

When he smashed the driver's side window, the van's driver reversed the vehicle and fled, running over Flis's foot.

Regis criticized the off-duty Flis for staying involved, and going in search of the van, even after Durham police arrived.

Flis ``went on what can only be called a search mission,'' Regis said, observing that Flis didn't check with Durham police about the situation.

A short distance later, near where the van was found abandoned, Flis saw Scullion standing by a bus shelter. He said he was on his way home from a friend's house. The officer, who was not in uniform and did not show any identification, beckoned to the teenager with his index finger.

The teen testified he had seen several police officers and cars in the area, and had heard officers search nearby bushes calling out: ``Stop, police.''

The youth said he ran away from Flis because he thought Flis was the person police were looking for and that he might be taken hostage, an explanation the judge called believable.

While Flis was going after Scullion, Grande, who happened to be driving by with his wife and child, saw the two and decided to get involved, an action the judge called ``baffling.''

Neither officer knew the other. Grande testified that only moments earlier he'd decided to get out of the area after seeing a uniformed Durham police officer with a drawn handgun.

In his ruling, Regis said both Flis and Grande pummelled Scullion, but Grande kicked the teen while he was face down on the ground.

The officers, who will be sentenced Aug. 10, have become good friends since the incident.

Some of the judge's harshest words were reserved for Peter McDougall, a retired plastic surgeon hired by defence lawyers Harry Black and J. J. Burke.

McDougall testified that Scullion's injuries couldn't have occurred from blows dealt by the officers, and that they were more consistent with falling to the ground.

In cross-examination, however, McDougall admitted he hadn't seen the original photos of the injuries.