The criminal trial of a Toronto police officer and his brother who were charged in the beating of Dafonte Miller began Tuesday in Oshawa, nearly three years since the violent confrontation on a residential street in Whitby.Const. Michael Theriault and Christian Theriault are jointly charged with aggravated assault, and separately charged for attempting to obstruct justice. They have each pleaded not guilty to both charges.Miller, who was 19 at the time, was badly injured during the confrontation on Dec. 28, 2016. He suffered damage to his eye so severe it had to be removed, a broken orbital bone, a broken nose and a fractured wrist.In his opening comments, Crown lawyer Peter Scrutton outlined the allegations against the Theriault brothers, arguing they both used “excessive force” against Miller after chasing him down Erickson Dr. The eye injury incurred by Miller meets the criteria for aggravated assault, he said — namely, that the beating did “wound, maim or disfigure” Miller. Scrutton said the Theriault brothers’ attempt to obstruct justice charge means they are alleged to have willingly given a false or misleading account of the events surrounding the incident. He said the Crown alleges they provided false information to a police official when they said that they’d feared for and fought for their lives, and had been acting in self defence.The first Crown witness called to testify was Durham Regional Police Const. Jennifer Bowler, who was one of the first two officers to arrive at the scene. Bowler said a dispatcher had told her that 911 callers had given various accounts of what had happened, including that a person was being restrained in front of a home on Erickson Dr., that there was an armed person with a stick, and that there was an off-duty police officer at the scene. When she arrived, she said, she saw a “very bloody” Black male lying on the ground and a white male on top of him. The Black male app ...
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