MANDEL: Toronto rapper walks on gun charges due to police 'misconduct'

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They’re supposed to be the good guys – but a judge found Toronto Police “misconduct” and “excessive force” means an accused bad guy gets to walk from serious gun charges.

Omary Bent, a white Rolls Royce-driving rapper who goes by the name ORock, was facing charges of possession of a loaded, prohibited firearm, possession of a non-restricted firearm without a licence, and two counts of possession of a prohibited over-capacity magazine after the ETF executed a search warrant at his lakeside condo on Park Lawn Rd. in the summer of 2021.

After a confidential informant alleged Bent was involved in the drug trade and had a gun, ETF officers burst through his door with the help of a hydraulic ram and found a disturbing cache: according to the ruling, there was a loaded .40 calibre Glock 23 with a laser attachment and an overcapacity magazine with 19 rounds of ammunition and another in the chamber.

Seventeen more rounds of ammunition were found loose in a file folder on the bed as well as another Glock magazine.

While ETF officers were busting into the condo, an officer stationed outside the building saw a guitar case being thrown off the balcony – inside the case, police found a semi-automatic long gun with three magazines and eight rounds of ammunition.

But Superior Court Justice Sandra Nishikawa threw all the evidence out because it had been obtained by the cops using excessive force and questioning Bent before he’d spoken to a lawyer.

“There is a strong public interest in having the charges for possession of prohibited firearms and ammunition, which pose a serious danger to the public, adjudicated on their merits. The seized evidence is reliable,” she admitted.

“In this case, the excessive use of force by police and the breach of (the right to counsel) constitute misconduct by police resulting in a significant intrusion on the Applicant’s Charter-protected rights,” Nishikawa concluded. “My view is that the court should dissociate itself from evidence obtained in this manner. The evidence should be excluded.”

At about 7:18 a.m. on July 27, 2021, Bent testified that he came out of his bedroom with his hands up when police tasered him. He didn’t remember anyone telling him to get down on his knees.

It felt “like something ripping through my chest,” he told the court.

Screaming and crying from the pain, Bent claims he next recalls an officer grabbing him by his left wrist and the braid on the right side of his head and dragging him down the hallway.

Bent claims the cop then told him: “I should have f***ing killed you.”

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Photos taken by his sister show a bald, raw spot where the braid detached from the skin of his scalp as well as scrapes on his arm and knee.

The judge believed most of his account. But she had a more difficult time with the credibility of the testifying officers, saying their accounts contradicted each other and their own reports.

Const. Victor Romita said he tasered Bent because he feared he was reaching for the satchel with the gun – but he never mentioned that in his notes or use of force report, Nishikawa said. Instead, he checked off that Bent was “confirmed armed” despite him being shirtless and wearing shorts with no weapon visible.

Nishikawa accused Romita of being “deliberately misleading” and alleged he “tailored his testimony to justify his use of the taser.

Bent was wearing swimming-type shorts and no shirt. It was, therefore, clear to the officers that there was no weapon at his waist,” she wrote.

Nishikawa found police used excessive force in arresting Bent by tasering him and dragging him out by his wrist and hair.

“While the Applicant may not have been in perfect compliance with the officers’ commands, he was not hostile, threatening, assaultive, or even uncooperative,” she said.

“In the circumstances of this case, a reasonable person informed of the relevant circumstances and familiar with Charter values would conclude that the admission of the seized evidence would bring the long-term reputation of the administration of justice into disrepute.”

But Bent isn’t completely home free. He still faces an unrelated charge of second-degree murder for a stabbing at a Toronto banquet hall last year.

Toronto Police deny there was any wrongdoing.

“In this specific case, the officers‘ testimony was reviewed by the Crown office, and in their view, there was no evidence of misconduct by the officers,“ said spokesman Stephanie Sayer.

mmandel@postmedia.com