Oct 10
30
Court slaps down over-zealous Toronto cops
National Post – October 29, 2010
Judge finds David Chen not guilty; or, The Grocer Wore Grey
By Peter Kuitenbrouwer
In a cliffhanger ruling that mixed references to film noir and pulp fiction, Justice Ramez Khawly of the Ontario Court of Justice took two hours yesterday, in a court packed with 100 people, to get to his decision: David Chen, the vigilante grocer, is not guilty on all charges.
“David Chen tried to fill the void where the justice system failed,” Judge Khawly said.
Friday Mr. Chen walked out onto the steps of Toronto’s Old City Hall courthouse a free man, and, as the clock on the red sandstone tower struck the reverberating bells of noon, breathed the air of acquittal.
“I am relieved it is over and relieved with the right results,” he said in halting English, while dozens of supporters cheered around him.
Mr. Chen and two fellow grocers, whom Toronto police charged in May 2009, after they tied up a shoplifter, became what the judge called a “cause célèbre,” a symbol across Canada of honest, hardworking people at odds with a justice system that coddles criminals.
But while acquitting the grocer, the judge made an impassioned plea in favour of “this cauldron masquerading as a courtroom” and the justice system as a whole, peppering his exhaustive remarks with references to James Cagney, Frank Capra, Richard Nixon, Emile Zola and George Orwell.
The judge marveled at the press coverage of what he called a “relatively mundane matter,” noting that, “3,000 miles away, the Vancouver Sun asked, ‘Why an honest grocer struggling to make a buck became a target of punishment,’ ” — a reprint of words I wrote in the National Post.