A man who was arrested and charged for filming police outside a Toronto police station has had his charges withdrawn and is now seeking damages from the department.
James Hearn was charged with criminal harassment after police approached him while he was filming a Toronto police station from a city sidewalk.
He was arrested after an officer claimed to feel “harassed and intimidated” by his conduct.
The officer demanded to know why he was filming but Hearn refused to answer, which led to him being arrested, charged and held for bail.
“Mr. Hearn was charged with criminal harassment and intimidation for filming the outside of 52 Division in Toronto after a police officer who was pulling into the underground parking garage complained about feeling harassed and intimidated by Hearn’s conduct,” Hearn’s defence lawyer, Alan Honner, told True North.
Following his arrest, Hearn was searched and had his recording equipment, including the smartphone he’d used to capture the interaction between him and the complainant police officer, seized.
Hearn operates a YouTube channel called “Ontario Audit” which he uses to share experiences he’s had with law enforcement and government officials.
While Hearn’s channel seeks to expose both the good and bad side of his exchanges with people in positions of authority, the channel was launched after he’d had “bad interactions with law enforcement.”
His videos have accumulated over a million views.
According to the Democracy Fund, who funded Hearn’s defence, charges were withdrawn last month after the prosecution cited no reasonable prospect of conviction.
However, police have yet to return Hearn’s recording equipment, despite multiple requests.
Democracy Fund lawyers said that even though Hearn beat the charges, the “process is the punishment,” as their client was subjected to the “indignity of his arrest and the loss of liberty associated with his temporary detention and restrictive bail conditions.”
Honner is now representing Hearn in a lawsuit against the police officer who made the arrest on what he says were “spurious grounds.”
“The assistant crown attorney did the right thing by withdrawing the charges, but that does not change the fact that Hearn was arrested without legal cause and put on restrictive bail conditions for months until the charges were finally withdrawn,” Honner told True North.
The civil allegations have not been proven in court.
According to Honner, police charged his client because he “refused to comply with the demands of an errant police officer.”
In a letter to members of the Toronto Police Services Board, Honner said it was Hearn’s right not to respond to the officer and that he was only charged because police disliked his activity.
The lawsuit will be seeking damages, including punitive damages, for false imprisonment, assault, negligent investigation, and various bad faith breaches of his Charter rights.
“It stretches the imagination to believe that the complainant police officer felt harassed and intimidated by Hearn’s conduct. Either he made it up as an excuse to arrest Hearn, or he’s so timid that he’s unworthy of his rank. Whatever the case, Canadians should be concerned,” said Hearn.
The Toronto Police Service did not respond to a request for comment from True North.