Dot and Paul Pang filed a complaint against pc28police officer Timothy Somers over his offensive social media postings, which they allege may have tainted an investigation.
Dot and Paul Pang filed a complaint against pc28police officer Timothy Somers over his offensive social media postings, which they allege may have tainted an investigation.
A pc28police officer who was facing a disciplinary hearing stemming from a public complaint about offensive social media posts — including calling Black Lives Matter a “hate group” — has instead ended by undisclosed “alternative means.”
pc28police Constable Timothy Somers, in a photo posted to his personal Facebook page.
Facebook
Const. Timothy Somers made a brief virtual appearance at the pc28police tribunal Tuesday, at which the tribunal was told the complainants in the case had not responded to prosecution attempts to reach them and that a sole charge of discreditable conduct was being withdrawn.
The tribunal is where “serious” police disciplinary matters are dealt with.
Instead, the tribunal was told the case was “resolved through alternative means,” typically meaning that an officer has been disciplined at their unit level, the details of which are not usually made public.
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Complainants Dot and Paul Pang alleged in a complaint that Somers’ Facebook posts from his personal account in 2020 tainted his role in an investigation into a racially-charged landlord-tenant dispute they were involved in, dating back to 2011.
In their complaint, filed to the since-renamed Office of the Independent Police Review Director, the Pangs alleged their landlord and fellow tenants used police to go after the Chinese-Canadian couple. The Pangs alleged they were the targets of racism from other tenants for, among other things, “speaking Chinese,” and the landlord got police involved, which included Somers.
Police documents obtained by the Pangs showed them being portrayed by police as instigators, when they say they were the victims.
pc28police were “used” to go after a Chinese Canadian couple embroiled in a dispute over alleged anti-Asian racism in a Rosedale apartment
In 2020, following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, the Pangs came across Facebook posts on Somers’ account that they found “offensive with overt tones of racial animus.”
Screenshots of Somers’ posts show Somers describing Black Lives Matter as a “hate group that must be eliminated by the government” and that “police are not a threat to black lives, black people are a threat to each other!”
In another post, he shared content with his headline calling for a “WHITE STRIKE — POLICE HAVE HAD ENOUGH!” In another, he wrote that the “perception of racism is a myth.” He also attacked the CBC, CTV, Global and other media for “reinforcing a racially motivated narrative that is not representative of the vast majority of people!”
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The posts, since deleted, left the Pangs with “serious concerns with how police … have dealt with cases involving us,” they wrote in their complaint, arguing an “underlying racial bias” may have affected Somers’ judgment in their case.
The Pangs are still worried about how police perceive them, based on lingering statements police made about them in police records, including unsupported notations about their mental health. Somers had not even met the Pangs in the course of the investigation.
In an email to the Star, Dot Pang said the couple disengaged from the tribunal process after they refused to sign an undertaking on tribunal disclosure material. Given Somers’ social media posts as evidence, said Pang, police should have gone ahead with a public hearing without them.
As a result, said Pang, she and Paul have “lost faith and trust” in police, the complaint system, police services board and the justice system.
pc28police spokesperson Stephanie Sayer said that while “we cannot speak to the tribunal” outcome, the service is “committed to addressing anti-Black racism and building meaningful relationships with Black communities across the city” and has taken “concrete steps,” including diversifying hires across the ranks and enhancing anti-racism training.
That said, Sayer said, “this work must continue. Public trust is foundational to policing, and we remain committed to learning from the community and taking action together.”
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Somers was facing a single misconduct charge for five social media postings, according to a police notice of hearing document, “consisting of pictures, comments, and links to internet content that were of a questionable and offensive nature ... In so doing, you committed misconduct in that you did act in a disorderly manner or in a manner prejudicial to discipline or likely to bring discredit upon the reputation of the pc28Police Service.”
The pc28Police Association, on Somers’ behalf, declined to comment on the withdrawal of the charge, and was “unable to comment on any discipline that may or may not have taken place outside of the Tribunal.”
TPA president Clayton Campbell said in an email to the Star that the process to get to this point has been “long and arduous ... for everyone involved,” but said it was “difficult, and unfair” for a complainant to criticize the outcome after disengaging from the hearing process.
Jim Rankin is a Star reporter based in Toronto. Follow him on X:
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