A Toronto father is speaking out after video surfaced showing his 15-year-old twins being arrested and “manhandled” by plainclothes police officers at a Scarborough McDonald’s last week.
In a statement to CP24 on Saturday, Toronto police say they are “aware of the video and have forwarded it to Professional Standards for investigation.”
“We don’t have any further information to provide at this time,” spokesperson Stephanie Sayer said.
Brian Galindo, the father of the twins, says his children had gone to the McDonald’s located at Victoria Park Avenue and Ellesmere Road on Sept. 3, after their phones had died.
He said his children told him two people approached them and began pushing them without clearly identifying themselves as police.
“They were thinking stranger danger,” he told CP24 on Sunday. “They don’t know. They were just there to charge their phone.”
What the video shows
The video, which has been circulating online, shows a plainclothes officer striking the girl in the face and later pushing her inside the restaurant.
The officer is then seen grabbing the boy after he appears to strike the officer. Both teenagers are eventually handcuffed.
Galindo said his son reacted after seeing his sister struck.
“My daughter got slapped by the cop. Obviously my son’s going to react because that’s his sister,” he said. “They’re twins. Boy and girl twins.”
He said the teenagers would not have fought back if they had known they were dealing with police to begin with.
“They didn’t identify themselves,” Galindo said. “Obviously they’re not going to go swing at a police officer.”
Police sources later told CP24 that officers were called there for a robbery investigation.
Sources then added that officers went to look at security camera footage and then spoke to the youths hanging out at the restaurant, which resulted in an interaction.
Once uniformed officers arrived, both teenagers were arrested for assaulting a peace officer, according to the sources.
No charges were ultimately laid, and the teenagers were released and taken home to their parents.
Father says children were injured
Galindo said his daughter was experiencing jaw pain and had a cut under her chin after the incident. He also said her glasses were broken during the altercation.
“We just came from the hospital yesterday,” he said. “My daughter’s jaw hurts... she’s fragile. She’s like only 100-something pounds, and the officer manhandled her, and my son too,” Galindo said.
Police have not provided additional information about their investigation, but Galindo said he is considering taking legal action immediately following the long weekend.
“I want justice,” he said. “This is not fair and it’s not right for them to get manhandled like that. They’re only teenagers.”
Galindo said he believes the officers could have handled the situation differently and insists his children had nothing to do with the robbery investigation.
“They were just at the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said.
With files from CP24’s Bryann Aguilar
