Police issue summons to journalist after quarantine hotel investigation
David Menzies
You might recall our video from last week, in which a group of demonstrators showed up at the Radisson Suite Hotel Toronto Airport. They were there to offer guests (or are they “inmates”?) rides home, given that this property is apparently no longer a hotel operated by the Radisson Hotel Group, but rather an internment camp/quarantine facility... even though there’s no signage that indicates this to be the case. Nor is there signage stating, “Keep Out,” “Private Property,” “No Trespassing” and so on.
In other words, to the naked eye, this Radisson Hotel looks like a… Radisson Hotel that is indeed open to the public. (Even though someone with the hotel told us back in January that the property was “under construction”… even though there are no construction workers nor construction equipment here, and the hotel is clearly being occupied by civilians.)
But a funny thing happened while my cameraman, Mocha, and I were practicing journalism: police descended en masse! And one officer said they were charging us with trespassing, even though we were standing on the road at the time!
To be honest, we thought they were kidding, so we continued to interview the demonstrators for at least another 40 minutes. And lo and behold, the police did not make good on their threat of charging us with trespassing. So we leisurely packed up and headed back to the office to edit the video.
“The end,” right?
Wrong. Because, there’s an epilogue to this story. Six days after our visit to the Radisson Airport, two members of the Toronto Police visited my house and gave me a bright amber-hued summons. It states that I committed the offence of: “Enter premises when entry prohibited” contrary to “Trespass to Property Act.”
Huh?
But this Radisson Hotel is clearly open to the public. How did we commit the act of trespassing?
And why did the police not issue me that summons on site? They had ample opportunity to do so… or did they think that they would intimidate me by visiting my private residence? Is this how things roll in John Tory’s Hogtown these days?
There is no set fine on the ticket, but that’s irrelevant because we will, of course, fight this outrageous ticket in court all the way. And if you would like to help contribute to our legal fees, please visit www.FightTheFines.com and kindly make a donation. Thank you.
SEE VIDEO
https://www.rebelnews.com/police_issue_summons_to_journalist_after_quarantine_hotel_investigation