Toronto Const. Andalib-Goortani faces charges in G20 riot

A Toronto police officer will finally face charges stemming from the G20 riots in Toronto almost three years ago, after the attack on protester Adam Nobody prompted years of tension between the force and its oversight agency.

The trial for Const. Babak Andalib-Goortani begins on Monday after he was charged with assault with a weapon while policing the G20 Summit held in Toronto on June 26, 2010.

Protester Adam Nobody suffered a broken nose and cheekbone in an attack captured on video. The video appears to show five officers physically attack the protester.

Andalib-Goortani was charged by Ontario's Special Investigations Unit six months after the incident but no other officers were charged, despite attempts to re-open the investigation.

The Canadian Press reports that Andalib-Goortani has been charged in a second incident of assault with a weapon and that trial is set to begin sometime next year.

[ Related: G20 police officer assault trial begins today ]

The attack on Nobody had been captured on video that was later posted to YouTube, but Chief Bill Blair said the video had been tampered with and the claims fabricated. In an interview on Nov. 29, 2010, Blair said police were arresting a violent armed offender and a portion of the video showing the use of a weapon had been removed.

The claim brought forward videographer John Bridge, who provided the SIU with a complete, high resolution copy of the video. This led Blair to apologize and agree there was no evidence Nobody had been armed.

The video in question, and others received by investigators, showed at least four officers involved in the incident, but only Andalib-Goortani was charged. The SIU announced in July 2011 that the re-opened investigation was finished because the 17 officers interviewed could not identify those involved in Nobody’s arrest.

[ More Brew: Toronto Const. Glenn Weddell not guilty of G20 assault ]

Still, the SIU investigation would live on, closed and reconsidered, over the course of almost two years.

The last word on the "Adam Nobody Investigation" came on Jan. 30, 2012, when SIU Director Ian Scott declared that the case would remain closed despite a Office of the Independent Police Review Director’s (OIPRD) report that named five officers (including Andalib-Goortani) who used excessive force in Nobody's arrest.

But because to OIPRD's ruling relied on internal policing practices the SIU was not privy to, Scott said the report could not translate to criminal charges.

Andalib-Goortani is the second officer to be charged in connection to policing practices in Toronto’s G20 riots. Const. Glenn Weddell was found not guilty of assault charges last week, after demonstrator Dorian Barton suffered a broken shoulder.

In that case, Weddell testified that he had little to no interaction with Barton and only touched him to help him off the ground.

Andalib-Goortani's case is expected to last a couple of weeks.