G20 protesters at Queen and Spadina late Sunday afternoon June 27, 2010.Jonas Naimark for The Globe and Mail
A woman who says she was injured by rubber bullets while protesting at the G20 summit has filed a $1-million civil lawsuit against the Toronto Police Services Board and unnamed police officers, making this case the third civil suit to target police conduct during the G20 weekend.
Natalie Gray says she was shot twice with what she believes to be rubber bullets. She suffered "extremely painful injuries" to her elbow and sternum as a result of the shots, her lawyer Clayton Ruby says in a press release, which points out that, though the Toronto Police once denied they used rubber bullets, they've since backtracked on that claim.
She was arrested and charged with obstruction of a police officer, one of the most common charges against protesters on the weekend of June 26 and 27. The release goes on to say Ms. Gray was driven around in a police cruiser for a half hour before being taken to hospital for her injuries. Once there, the release says, she was taken to the Eastern Avenue location for people detained during the protests and "taunted" by police officers.
It goes on to say she was strip searched, denied access to her medication and to her counsel - representation she'd repeatedly asked for. She was detained for about 30 hours and released on bail the next day.
Charges against her were dropped in court on August 23.
"Natalie is suing for assault and battery; unlawful arrest and detention; malicious prosecution; and violations of a number of her constitutional rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms," the release says.
Mr. Ruby and Brian Shiller, who are both representing Natalie, say they will call for a criminal investigation of the police officer who allegedly shot Ms. Gray.
The lawyers are planning a press conference for Wednesday at 11 a.m.
The suit comes on the heels of two others that had catapulted the price tag of G20-related civil lawsuits well above $100 million.
Earlier this month, lawyer David Midanik launched a $115-million suit related to policing during the G20. That suit names the Toronto and Peel Regional Police boards and the federal Attorney-General as defendants and represents more than 1,000 people who lost business, damages or who were detained during the G20 weekend.
In early August, Sherry Good filed a $45 million class action suit against the Toronto Police Services Board and the Attorney-General of Canada claiming she suffered panic attacks and lost work due to the events of the weekend. She was one of the 250 or so people who were "kettled" at Queen Street and Spadina Avenue on the night of June 27 and kept there for hours in the pouring rain.