Ontario's Special Investigations Unit is reopening its probe into an arrest that resulted in a 29-year-old man being injured during last summer's G20 demonstrations in Toronto.
This will be the third time the SIU is investigating the incident.
The SIU decided to reopen it for a third time after Toronto police promised Wednesday to identify a witness officer who was present when Dorian Barton was allegedly struck several times during his arrest on June 26, 2010.
The investigation previously hit a wall because more than one officer said they were unable to name a colleague who witnessed the arrest and identified the officer who allegedly struck Barton.
The investigation stalled and was closed May 16 because there wasn't enough evidence to lay charges.
SIU director Ian Scott said in a news release Thursday that his investigators asked Toronto police several times to explain the method it used to identify the officers involved in the Barton incident, first with a request sent to Chief Bill Blair on Jan. 20. Scott said their response was "not adequate" and therefore, the SIU then requested the name of the witness officer who identified the subject officer so that a proper statement could be taken.
"Finally, on May 25, 2011, the service has agreed to provide the (SIU) with that name," Scott said in the release. "In anticipation of the timely receipt of this new information, the unit is re-opening the Barton investigation."
Barton suing police
Barton claims he was a merely a spectator at the G20 protests in Toronto last summer. He is alleging he was a victim of police brutality. He's suing the Toronto Police Service and several unidentified officers.
The initial SIU investigation determined that Barton was taking cellphone pictures of mounted police officers at University Avenue and College Street when he was taken to the ground and arrested.
Barton was facing the officers on horseback and was unaware that a group of marching anti-riot officers was marching towards the crowd he was in, the SIU said.
Barton suffered a broken right arm among other injuries.
The SIU's initial investigation closed on Nov. 25, 2010, because Barton was unable to identify the officers involved in his arrest or fully explain how the injury occurred, and there was a lack of conclusive evidence from other witnesses.
In January, the SIU reopened the investigation when it received seven photos of Barton's arrest from a civilian photographing the event. Investigators interviewed 12 officers and two new civilian witnesses.
The civilian witnesses told the SIU that Barton was knocked to the ground when he was struck by a riot shield and then struck several times with a baton by at least one officer.
