A Toronto traffic officer released the owner of a Yorkville restaurant and removed his handcuffs after the owner flashed a police association badge and name-dropped a director of the union, a police disciplinary hearing found yesterday.
Four days after the incident, the 25-year veteran of the force accepted a pair of $160 Maple Leafs hockey tickets as a thank-you from the restaurateur, the judgment stated.
Superintendent Neale Tweedy found Constable Paul Stone guilty of misconduct under the Police Services Act in a 33-page report. Constable Stone will be sentenced Jan. 24.
Asked last night to comment on the tribunal's decision, Toronto Mayor David Miller said: "That case was part of what we were trying to clean out of the police service."
The probe into Constable Stone's conduct was prompted by a conversation overheard as part of an unrelated criminal investigation of downtown plainclothes officers.
According to the finding, Constable Stone stopped Mario Amaro, the owner of Opus, a pricey restaurant in Yorkville described in the Frommer's Travel Guide as "popular with the price-is-no-object set." He was stopped for driving at 81 kilometres an hour on Avenue Road.
Mr. Amaro flashed a gold Toronto Police Association honorary badge inscribed with his name, which was housed in a leather wallet that had a sleeve to hold driving documents.
When the restaurant owner was asked for a breath sample, Mr. Amaro refused the demand, swore at the constable, was arrested, handcuffed and put in the back seat of the police cruiser to await the arrival of a mobile breath-analyzer unit, the judgment said.
Mr. Amaro's wife told Constable Stone that her husband was a friend of Constable Mike McCormack, the son of a former police chief who was then a director of the police association. After that, Mr. Amaro was released without consequence, and his wife was allowed to drive their car home, the finding stated.
Reached last night, Constable McCormack said that, as far as he knew, the honorary badges were no longer handed out. He did not know who had authority over the program when it was up and running.
"You'd have to talk to [Craig]Bromell about that," he said, referring to the former police association president.
Current association president Dave Wilson said the program ended before he took up the position and that he had not authorized any badges. "It's not a practise that I've been a part of," he said last night. A few days after the incident, Constable McCormack's brother, Constable Bill McCormack Jr., called Constable Stone from outside Opus, where he was planning to discuss the incident with Mr. Amaro.
The two officers did not know that police investigators were intercepting Constable Bill McCormack's calls as part of a criminal investigation into misconduct at 52 Division.
"While the words are damning, the tone is alarming, leaving the listener to believe that corrupt intention may be as routine as this very traffic stop, and while giving a reward is 'not necessary,' in Stone's words, if offered, it will be readily accepted," the judgment said.
Constable Stone explained during the call that Mr. Amaro's wife told him that Mr. Bromell frequented their restaurant.
And when Mr. Amaro's wife brought up Constable Mike McCormack's name, Constable Stone said "it's good enough for me."
The taped call also revealed that Constable Mike McCormack had a pair of hockey tickets from Mr. Amaro for him.
"You know what? . . . He's tryin' to give tickets. I'll take 'em," the judgment quotes Constable Stone as saying in the taped conversation.
The judgment stated it was obvious that Mr. Amaro wanted Constable Stone to see the police association badge.
"The only conclusion to be drawn is the badge's value for different treatment during a traffic stop, and while Mr. Amaro's badge presentation was subtle, his intent is clear and consistent with the realities of such an event when discretion is part of the dance," the judgment said.
Contacted at his restaurant last night and asked about the badge, Mr. Amaro said, "You'll have to speak to my lawyer about that."
Toronto Police Service spokesman George Christopoulos said that, while Constable Stone has been found guilty of misconduct, "Mr. Amaro is not under any investigation."