on this date two years ago, @torontopolice officer michael theriault and his brother christian attacked dafonte miller, then 19 years old, with a metal pipe. police in toronto and durham conspired to cover up the crime, and charged dafonte with assault 
the theriault brothers, who were sitting in their father’s garage in whitby, ontario, chased dafonte and his friends, who were walking at night minding their business. michael theriault was not on duty. the beating led to dafonte being hospitalized—he ultimately lost his left eye
.@DRPS responded and found dafonte, who is black, bleeding and badly injured—the theriault brothers, who are white, were essentially unharmed. durham police charged dafonte with assault. the theriault brothers were not arrested, charged, or tested for drugs or alcohol
toronto police were notified of theriault's altercation the same night it happened but didn't report the incident to @SIUOntario. neither did @drps. michael theriault went back to work patrolling the streets of scarborough, and continued until his arrest in july 2017
.@SIUOntario says it learned of the assault from dafonte’s lawyer in april 2017, months after it took place. the theriault brothers are now facing charges of aggravated assault with a weapon—the trial has been delayed till fall of 2019
john theriault, father of the attackers, is also a @torontopolice officer—he works for the dept tasked with contacting the SIU when an officer is suspected of hurting a civilian. dafonte’s lawyer says j theriault personally intervened to protect his sons thestar.com/news/gta/2017/…
both @drps and @torontopolice have failed to hold any officers accountable for covering up the assault against dafonte. a @wrpstoday investigation into the incident has not been released in the 18 months since the attack. mayor @johntory and the police board have failed to act
an interim @ohrc report shows that toronto police have killed black civilians at twenty times the rate of white civilians in recent years. a report respondent spoke about the impact of dafonte’s struggle on the larger black community:
in 2019 we will continue to hold @tpsboard accountable for failing to protect dafonte, and for its ongoing complicity in police violence and anti-Black racism. if you’d like to be part of that struggle, please e-mail me: heydesmondcole@gmail.com
