Ex-Ontario Attorney General Reported Arrested

[Old Sweat]

This story was just posted on the Toronto Star online edition. If correct, it sounds like something out of a tablod or cheap paperback. Note that the Star somehow failed to note that he is a Liberal.

It is reproduced under the fair comment provisions of the CopyRight Act.

Ex-Ontario AG Bryant arrested


Sep 01, 2009 06:33 AM
Henry Stancu
John Rieti
Staff Reporters

Former Ontario attorney general Michael Bryant has been arrested after a cyclist was killed last night while hanging on to a fleeing car, police sources say.

The crash occurred on Bloor St. near Bay St. around 9:45 p.m. when witnesses said a male cyclist in his 20s collided with a black Saab.

Witnesses said the cyclist hung onto the driver's side of the car, which had its convertible top down, while the driver allegedly yelled at him to get off.

The vehicle then veered onto the eastbound lanes and mounted the curb, brushing against trees and poles, witnesses said.

"He was driving on the wrong side of the street and up on the curb trying to knock him off the car for about 100 metres," said Ryan Brazeau, a worker with a crew laying sewer pipes on Bloor.

"Lots of people were watching and they couldn't believe what was happening."

As the car approached Avenue Rd., the cyclist fell off and he and his bike were dragged before being run over by the rear wheels, witnesses said.

The Toronto cyclist was taken to St. Michael's Hospital with severe head injuries and died around midnight, police said.

A suspect was arrested after the vehicle was seen pulling into the Park Hyatt hotel on Avenue.

Homicide detectives assisted Traffic Services with the investigation, which closed both lanes of Bloor St. W. between Bay and Avenue for most of the night.

Police say charges are pending. Police are also questionsiong a female passenger who was in the convertible at the time.

 

 

[PMedMoe]

According to this article, he is only being "questioned in connection" with the accident.  It seems he was allegedly in the car involved.

 

[Edward Campbell]

This just in, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from today’s Globe and Mail:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/michael-bryant-in-police-custody/article1271489/

Michael Bryant in police custody
Ontario's former attorney general allegedly involved in fatal hit-and-run in Yorkville area of Toronto on Monday night

Josh Wingrove

Toronto — Globe and Mail
Tuesday, Sep. 01, 2009 07:59AM EDT

Ontario's former attorney general Michael Bryant is in police custody after a fatal hit-and-run in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood Monday night.

The collision left a cyclist in his 20s dead and both Mr. Bryant and his Saab convertible in police hands as traffic and homicide officers combed Bloor Street for evidence overnight. Mr. Bryant has not been charged.

Police question Michael Bryant

The ordeal began around 9:45 p.m., on Bloor Street between Bay Street and Avenue Road, at a traffic light. Police said the cyclist and a man in a convertible got into an “altercation.” What followed next is unclear, but according to witness accounts, the cyclist found himself gripping to the outside of the car driver's door as it sped away.

The car apparently swerved to the oncoming lane of traffic along Bloor, very close to the sidewalk that the cyclist hung over. “He started going (driving) onto the sidewalk,” said Manuel Machado, a construction worker standing on the street as it unfolded.

“I heard the tires screech,” said Ryan Brazeau, another worker. “He (the cyclist) was right literally at the front windshield, almost holding on to the driver.”

The driver was now going west in the eastbound curb lane, leaving the cyclist clinging to the curbside door of the car. The cyclist, clinging to the car as it sped away, then struck trees and a grey mailbox like a “human battering ram,” Mr. Brazeau said.

“You could hear hitting, something, bam, bam, bam,” a third worker said.

The cyclist fell off the car when he struck the mailbox, and collapsed in a heap of blood on the sidewalk in front of Sephora. The driver kept going, hanging a right at Avenue Road.

“He was going fast enough that we couldn't recognize the car or the license plate,” Mr. Brazeau said.

A car matching descriptions from other witnesses, registered to Mr. Bryant, was found a short time later in the parking lot of the Hyatt hotel, which sits on the northwest corner of Bloor and Avenue, just metres from the crash site.

Television images captured Mr. Bryant in the back of a police cruiser. He was arrested moments after the crash.

The car had extensive damage to the right driver's side door; the passenger door, and the front driver's side fender. The car was taken away on a police tow truck around 5:20 a.m. by an officer with a set of keys.

The injured man, meanwhile, was bleeding from his mouth and ears, and from several gashes across his face. Paramedics rushed him to hospital without vital signs just before 10 p.m., and he was pronounced dead just after 11 p.m., Toronto police Traffic Services Sergeant Tim Burrows said.

His name wasn't released. Sgt. Burrows confirmed that the death “appears as a result of coming into contact with some objects on the side of the road.”

Several people, including someone "closely related" to Mr. Bryant, called 911, police said.

The workers told police they believed it appeared that the driver knew the man was on the car, which had its top down. “How can you explain the guy going the wrong way?” Mr. Machado said.

Asked if the driver was trying to knock the person off his car by striking objects, Sgt. Burrows replied: “No idea at this point in time.”

The death meant that the Homicide Squad was called in, but as of 5 a.m., the case was still in the hands of Traffic Services, considered the city's 23rd road fatality of the year. “Homicide was notified because of the fact there's a death involved. This appears to be more than just a traffic accident,” Sgt. Burrows said. “Right now, it's classified as ours (Traffic Services, not the Homicide Squad). If anything comes out of the investigation, that could change.”

Investigators are sifting through extensive security camera footage from the retail strip but still appealed for witnesses to come forward.

“Right off the top, we do know there were a lot of people involved who were in the area at the time. We've seen that on surveillance footage,” Sgt. Burrows said.

During Bloor's now-nine-hour closure, officers scoured Bloor Street. Evidence markers suggested the altercation began in the northernmost, westbound curb lane in front of United Colours of Benetton, before swerving across two middle lanes that were closed for construction and continuing west in the southernmost, eastbound lane.

“Different decisions on either part would have led to such different outcomes,” one collision reconstruction unit officer said. “It's just so bizarre.”

Before Mr. Bryant's identity was revealed, Sgt. Burrows said the driver was facing a fail-to-remain charge and a dangerous driving charge, as well as an investigation into the circumstances of the crash. That investigation is still in the early stages.

Mr. Bryant served as Ontario's attorney general and a high profile cabinet minister to Premier Dalton McGuinty. He left politics earlier this year to take control of Invest Toronto, meant to attract business investment to the Toronto area.

It appears to have been Mr. Bryant’s car.

It appears that ‘someone "closely related"’ to Mr. Bryant was there or near enough by to have called 911.

 

[dapaterson]

Shades of Rene Levesque.  And I fear that we may see the typically Canadian deference to persons in positions of authority vice prosecution for what, if proved, is a shocking amoral act deserving of societal condemnation and punishment.

 

[COBRA-6]

Legal gun owners don't kill people, Attorneys General in Saabs do...

 

[Redeye]

Note that the Star somehow failed to note that he is a Liberal.

His political affiliation would be obvious to most readers, given that the Liberals have run the province (into the ground, arguably) for quite a while.  That said, it's of no relevance to the story what his party affiliation is.  However, that also said, I'm sure they would have pointed out without hesitation his preference were he a Tory.

 

[Dennis Ruhl]

Shades of Rene Levesque.  And I fear that we may see the typically Canadian deference to persons in positions of authority vice prosecution for what, if proved, is a shocking amoral act deserving of societal condemnation and punishment.

Why in heaven's name didn't the cyclist just let go.  Not knowing the details but the motivation of the biker paints a good case for self defence.

 

[Old Sweat]

After having started this discussion, I suggest we wait to see what the investigation reveals. I am certainly unable to draw any concusions re the sequence of events that led to the death of the cyclist from the various published stories.

We aren't much more than a couple of conflicting sitreps past the "Contact. Wait, out" stage.

 

[mariomike]

Apparently, Metro Police charged him with criminal negligence causing death and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death.

 

[Long in the tooth]

As a cyclist and motorist this is very bad news.  A short time ago a 15 year old killed a 50 year old woman while riding on a sidewalk.  The relationships between modes of transport in Edmonton, Toronto and Vancouver is nothing short of rancourous.
Many cyclists are idiots, but I'm avoiding biking as I feel like we're fair game out there.

 

[Loachman]

Legal gun owners don't kill people, Attorneys General in Saabs do...

That is perhaps the best one-sentence letter to an editor that I have ever seen. Please send it to a bunch.

If you don't want to, can I steal it for that purpose?

My first thought when I heard this on the radio this morning: "This is the a-hole who wanted to take my guns away..."

 

[mariomike]

A short time ago a 15 year old killed a 50 year old woman while riding on a sidewalk. 

As I understand it, cyclists are subject to the same HTA rules and fines as motorists. The Ontario HTA was amended in 1989 to require cyclists to identify themselves when stopped by police officers. They can be charged under the HTA with or without a licence.
In my opinion, they should have licence plates, like they used to. This way they could be reported for leaving the scene of an accident.

 

[Old Sweat]

Here is a link to a story re him being charged. It also includes the information that the car and the bike had been in an incident prior to the alleged "mad dash down the road."

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090901/fatal_collision_090901/20090901?hub=Toronto

 

[GAP]

As much as I agree with some of these comments, there is still a possibility that the cyclist is partly responsible. There was another clip I read awhile back about the couriers being very confrontational to drivers and like this guy...latch onto the drivers side door to argue with them.....can't find the article right now, but this is not the first I have heard about this type of behaviour....

That still doesn't excuse the former AG from scraping him off against a mailbox/fire hydrant......

 

[Kat Stevens]

Yeah, a good smash on the back of the hand with a stainless steel coffee mug would do... at least that's what I was told by a guy...

 

[Dennis Ruhl]

That still doesn't excuse the former AG from scraping him off against a mailbox/fire hydrant......

If I feared for my life or safety, I would do the same thing.  I suspect convincing twelve men good and true that the force was excessive is problematic.

 

[Eye In The Sky]

Why in heaven's name didn't the cyclist just let go.  Not knowing the details but the motivation of the biker paints a good case for self defence.

Or...why didn't the stupidiot in the car just stop?  Aferall, it wasn't the cyclist dragging the motorist around was it?

I just say the former AG on the news...he expressed his condolences to the family of the man he killed (allegedly killed...although he is certainly dead isn't he?).

Ya.  THAT will help you fucking moron.  :

 

[Edward Campbell]

After having started this discussion, I suggest we wait to see what the investigation reveals. I am certainly unable to draw any concusions re the sequence of events that led to the death of the cyclist from the various published stories.

We aren't much more than a couple of conflicting sitreps past the "Contact. Wait, out" stage.

Agreed.

He's been charged with a crime. It is now up to the crown to make and prove a case - otherwise he is not guilty.

It's up to the system to treat him judiciously until police, witnesses, lawyers, judges and jurors have done their work.

 

[Dennis Ruhl]

Or...why didn't the stupidiot in the car just stop?  Aferall, it wasn't the cyclist dragging the motorist around was it?

Stop for what purpose?  For a defence of self-defence to succeed, it is only necessary to believe you may suffer harm.  You don't actually have to wait for an assault to happen.  The fact that he was being pursued seems like a slam-dunk defence.  Running away from a potential assault seems like an eminently sensible thing to do.

 

[Harris]

I suppose leaving the scene of an accident was OK too?