Some members of Toronto’s Black community are raising concerns after a police officer who was cleared after killing two black men and was accused of beating a third some three decades ago is now the head of the Toronto police’s professional standards unit.
The appointment of Supt. Rick Shank was made in the midst of a stay-at-home order during the pandemic two years ago. The professional standards unit is responsible for internal accountability and public confidence in the police.
“Superintendent Shank has served as a police officer for over 30 years with an exemplary record and is recognized for his many contributions to policing. Over the course of his career, he has demonstrated the highest levels of professionalism, ethics and leadership, and has a record of service to the community. We stand by Superintendent Shank and his service,” the TPS said.
“It seems this unit gives extra policing of people in the Black community over and above all the normal policing,” Coley’s family’s lawyer, Peter Rosenthal, told CTV News at the time. Once in the station, he’s told by an officer, “You’re under arrest for assault with intent to resist arrest.” Reece replies, “I never assaulted nobody.”Reece claimed Shank and others had beaten him at a cemetery on the way to the police station after an arrest in a traffic stop that turned into a melee in his family’s home. A police photo taken after that incident shows Shank demonstrating his bloody knuckles for the camera.
The Toronto police say the SIU found there was no evidence to corroborate Reece’s claim of serious injury, which is the standard when the civilian investigators get involved. The force says Shank did not face any internal misconduct charges at the time either.In 1997, Shank shot Hugh Dawson nine times as he sat in his driver’s seat, unarmed, in a drug bust.
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