February 16, 2008

On October 9th, 2004, a drug dealer was shot 14 times as he walked to his Lexus in a Woodbridge parking lot. He died.

The cops liked three men for the shooting: Jahmar, Reuben and Evol. They said the drug dealer had shot up Evol’s friend a few weeks earlier, and that it was a revenge killing. But Evol wasn’t sayin’ shit.

A few weeks later, Evol’s Mom met Leon. Leon said he was an Obeah Man. A voodoo priest. He told Mom that there were evil forces waging war around her. He gave her a kerchief and told her that she should rub it on her forehead if she ever had trouble with the law.

Leon’s real name is Andrew. He’s a constable with the Peel Regional Police.

Mom got pulled over a couple days later. The officer asked for her license. He walked back to his car. She rubbed the kerchief on her forehead. The officer returned, told her he was feeling ill, and couldn’t complete the ticket.

Mom was hooked. The Obeah Man told her to bring him a black sock, tied with an egg inside it, and her son, Evol. The Obeah Man got Evol to stand in the middle of a candlelit hotel room in Mississauga and wave a glass three times, shouting the word “Ashante”. “I cause harm and destruction in the beast man”, shouted The Obeah Man. He told Mom to give the magic kerchiefs to the men who killed the drug dealer. The cops watched and waited. Mom didn’t give them to anyone.

They arrested her anyway. The Obeah Man confronted Evol. The Obeah Man said Mom was arrested because she disobeyed him. Evol didn’t say shit. The Obeah Man told him he was going to hell without Obeah protection. The Obeah Man said that Evol’s friend got killed by the drug dealer because she didn’t have Obeah protection. Evol was sweating now. The Obeah Man said that the drug dealer’s evil spirit was going to get him. Evol said he brought the gun to Jahmar that night, and that Mom cleaned it later on. The cops got it on video.

Evol’s lawyers said it was grossly manipulative and a coerced confession. They called it a “spiritual reign of terror”. And Evol had never actually admitted involvement with the shooting.

Jahmar, Evol and Reuben were found guilty of first-degree murder. Reuben’s mother collapsed, sobbing. She screamed, “God will punish all police officers.”

February 11, 2008

Two police officers, patrolling an apartment building on Lawrence Avenue, step up to the elevator and push the button. There’s a young man also waiting for the elevator. His name is Courtney.

The elevator comes and the cops get on. They hold the door for Courtney. Courtney shakes his head and says he’ll get the next one. One of the cops interprets this correctly. He looks at Courtney’s coat and sees a wooden handle sticking out of it.

The cops tell Courtney he’s under arrest. Courtney jumps forward and tries to take the cop’s gun. The cops beat him down and frisk him. They pull a loaded sawed-off shotgun out of his coat and some cocaine. The elevator leaves with nobody on it.

November 25, 2007

At about 7 in the morning on the east side, Bob Morfitt got into the back of a cab. When the driver asked for payment, Morfitt threw punches. The driver jumped out and cursed his luck while he dialled 911, wondering why shit like this always happened to him.

When the cops showed up, they asked the driver which direction Morfitt ran in. The driver opened the back door of the cab to show them Morfitt asleep on the back seat. The cops shook Morfitt awake, and found a loaded 9mm in his jacket. The responding officers arrested Morfitt and, as they drove off, told the cab driver it was his lucky day.

November 13, 2007

At 4:30 p.m., near Kennedy and Lawrence, three boys sat in a stolen car. One of them had a knife, and all of them were wearing disguises. They got out of the car, entered a retail store, and told the two employees to get down on the ground.

The boys punched and kicked the employees, and the boy with the knife threatened one of the employees with it. They wanted money. They told the employees to get it for them.

A man walked past the store. He looked in, and saw three people wearing disguises beating the shit out of two people who worked there. He reached for his cel phone to call 911. Then he saw something better: right in front of him, two TPS officers were working a pay-duty gig routing traffic around construction. The boys had decided to rob a store fifty feet away from two cops.

The officers entered the store and arrested the boys. They face 18 charges between them.

September 19, 2007

At 1:06 p.m., at St. Clair and Avoca, a 66-year-old Toronto Police Service crossing guard was working. She was wearing a flourescent orange vest and holding a large stop sign. She could not have been more visible had she been on fire.

A woman with a stroller moved into the crosswalk. A late-model Pontiac Wave approached the intersection, so the crossing guard stepped out to slow it down. The Pontiac plowed through the crossing guard, lifted her onto the hood of the car and carried her for about 30 feet before she fell off onto the road.

The speed at the time of impact was 10 kilometres an hour. The driver of the Pontiac Wave was estimated to be in her early 70s. The crossing guard was taken to the hospital where it was determined that she sustained serious but non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the Pontiac was not injured, but she was also taken to the hospital for examination.

August 20, 2007

At around 7 p.m., in front of a café on Oakwood Avenue, two men in their 60s are talking. One’s Italian, the other’s Jamaican. People standing nearby chuckle to themselves as the men get louder, starting to argue. Nobody can understand what they’re talking about, because their accents are so thick. These two grandpas yelling at each other in the middle of the sidewalk.

The chuckling stops when the Jamaican grandpa pulls a knife. Someone calls the cops. The Jamaican grandpa slashes the Italian grandpa across the forehead and neck. By the time the cops get there, the attacker is gone. The Italian grandpa survives. Nobody asks what they were arguing about.

August 3, 2007

This is how it goes down:

One in the morning. Eglinton West.

Nate and Barrington are on the street. Nate got a knife. They see a kid, 17. Nate grabs the kid and flashes the knife. Your wallet, he says. Now.

The kid starts yelling. Police! Police! Barrington laughs. Like a cop’s just gonna appear. Nate laughs too. They’re laughing at the kid.

Nate hears running behind him. He looks over. He stops laughing. They’re standing in front of a police station. 13 Division, Eglinton West.

Three cops burst out of the station and run at them. Nate jams the knife into the kid’s back and runs. Barrington follows him. The cops are on them too fast.

The kid goes down.

Nate goes down.

Barrington goes down.

That's how it goes down.

July 22, 2007

2:30 p.m., Oakridge. A 16-year-old kid breaks into an apartment. He takes cash and jewels. He's scared bad. He prays the family doesn't come home.

They come home. He's scared bad. He prays they let him run out the door.

They block the door. He's scared bad. He prays there's another way out.

There's no way out. He's scared bad. He throws his bag off the balcony and climbs out. He prays it's not high up.

It's 26 floors up. He's scared bad. He starts climbing down. He prays he doesn't slip.

He slips. He's scared bad. It takes four seconds to fall all 26 storeys. He prays he survives.

July 6, 2007

It's 4 a.m. in Scarborough. Livingston is 16 and sleeping on a friend's couch, a dealer from around the way. He's having a dream where he keeps running and running, but he doesn't know why.

Two crackheads break into the house through the front door. Livingston wakes up, grabs his gun, and shoots one of them. He dies. The other man runs. Livingston runs after him and shoots him too. The man climbs into his SUV, drives half a block, jumps the curb, hits a tree, and dies. Livingston just killed two men. 90 seconds ago he was asleep.

Livingston runs.