DRUG TRAFFICKER CLAIMED HE WAS RACIALLY PROFILED

Charges Dropped Against Young Black Man

TORONTO -- Cocaine trafficking charges were stayed Tuesday against an
admitted drug dealer who claimed he was racially profiled by two
Toronto police officers found last month to have improperly stopped
another young black man.

The federal Justice Department denied that the charges against Sheldon
Jackson were dropped Tuesday because of the racial profiling
allegations.

However, the decision to stay the prosecution came after a number of
court rulings critical of Toronto police officers in their dealings
with black men.

A provincial court judge convicted Const. William Walker earlier this
week of assault causing bodily harm in a confrontation with a
43-year-old black man in July 2002. Last week, another judge acquitted
two officers of assaulting a hearing-impaired black man. The trial
judge stressed that his verdict was a result of having a "reasonable
doubt" of the assault and described the testimony of one of the
officers as "fanciful," "concocted" and "not worthy of belief."

Last month, Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy acquitted a 28-year old
real estate broker of cocaine trafficking charges and ruled that Kevin
Khan was stopped by police in October 2001 "because he was a black man
with an expensive car."

The judge said Sgt. Glenn Asselin and Const. Craig James "fabricated
significant aspects of their evidence," in what is believed to be the
first court finding of racial profiling by police in Canada.

The same two officers were involved in the March 2001 arrest of
Jackson, 28, who has a criminal record and has admitted to drug
dealing. Cocaine with an estimated street value of about $5,000 was
seized during the arrest.

During a preliminary hearing, Asselin testified that he became
suspicious of Jackson after they made eye contact while driving in the
opposite direction on a busy street in Toronto's west end during the
afternoon rush hour.

"The eyes bulged out," said Asselin. "It was as if I had caught my
daughter with her hand in the cookie jar."

The officer also agreed that he had a "vibration of feeling" that
Jackson, who was driving a BMW at the time, was involved in criminal
conduct.

John Struthers, a prominent Toronto lawyer who represented Khan as
well as Jackson, said: "I don't think there is a presumption of police
credibility any more. They have to give evidence that is credible."

He stressed that even if drugs are seized, improper searches by police
cannot be tolerated.

Struthers also said it is up to the Department of Justice to assess
the overall credibility of Asselin (James left policing for personal
reasons), a 15-year veteran of the Toronto police.

The Khan ruling was not the first time the actions of Asselin have
been criticized by a judge. In 1997, a Superior Court judge found that
the officer and his partner Const. Rick Shank had no "reasonable
basis" to stop a young black man walking to a parked car.

The man claimed he was beaten by the officers and filed a lawsuit
against the Toronto police force which was settled out of court for an
undisclosed amount of money.

Shank, who remains on the Toronto police force, was acquitted in 1999
of manslaughter in the shooting of an unarmed black suspect during a
drug takedown. Shank was also cleared by the province's Special
Investigations Unit in the fatal shooting of another suspect who
allegedly pointed a gun at the officer during a police chase in 1993.