Ontario Premier Doug Ford has jumped to the defence of a Toronto police officer featured in a viral video where she gave the middle finger to a civilian, describing the interaction as “harassment.”
Speaking at an unrelated news conference Wednesday morning, Ford emphasized that people should support the police instead of harassing them.
“Let’s support our police. Let’s thank them rather than getting Google glasses and trying to harass our police. That’s what I call it — harassment,” said Ford. “Why don’t you say thank you, shake their hands and keep going. And by the way, next time you’re at a coffee shop, I’ll run in and buy you a coffee.”
The video was originally posted to TikTok in three parts, with over 800,000 cumulative views as of Wednesday morning. The first part alone has over half a million views.
The three videos were filmed from different angles using various devices, with the footage seemingly being recorded with a phone, glasses camera, and a bodycam.
In the video, a man approaches two Toronto police officers and confronts them for parking illegally to get their coffee.
“I get where you’re coming from. But, at the end of the day, we work 11 hours. We need caffeine,” said the female officer before asking whether he preferred that they park on the sidewalk.
The three argued for a while before the third part of the series of videos cut to a new location, where the man was arguing with the police, who were now in their vehicle.
“We’re doing our job, bro,” said the female police officer.
“I’m not your bro. It’s a green light. You guys just missed the whole light cycle,” said the man recording.
No more words were exchanged, but the female police officer appeared to give the man recording the middle finger immediately before the video ended.
“It’s kind of creepy, the guys walking around with these Google glasses… Imagine some guy walking down the street videotaping everything he had, not they’re using the glasses,” said Ford. “I support our police, and as far as I’m concerned, they did nothing wrong today. I absolutely love them.”
Ford wasn’t the only person to jump to the officers’ defence.
Jon Reid, the president of the Toronto Police Association, said that he understands the public’s frustration when seeing police parked illegally but that the police are constantly subject to surveillance and judgment from the public.
He said that people approaching officers and trying to bait them into interactions to elicit negative reactions is “absolutely terrible.”
“Our officers are frequently recorded and provoked, and insults and confrontations are all too common. The hostility and disrespect our members endure are unacceptable,” said Reid. “These men and women are human and do not deserve the constant provocation while they do their jobs. We stand with our members, empathizing with the immense pressure they endure each and every day.”