Carding hearing resumes

Closing arguments were heard today in a disciplinary hearing for a Hamilton police officer accused of arbitrarily stopping a black city councillor, they come after a tense week long hearing back in September.

Matthew Green says he was waiting for a bus and was standing across the street near a bridge at Stinson st. and Victoria ave to get out of the wind when he was stopped by Constable Pfeifer, alleging that stop was racially motivated.

“I felt arbitrarily stopped and detained and I felt like I was targeted and not made to feel welcome in my own neighbourhood.” Matthew Green, city councillor.

In closing arguments today, Pfeifer’s lawyer accused Green of creating a narrative that never happened. Saying he wanted the public to believe he was carded. Pfeifer’s lawyer said that colour had nothing to play in this case it is all about conduct and that he was checking on the councillor’s well-being.

“He’s paid to do a job and its our assertion that he did it very well.” Bernard Cummins, Pfeifer’s lawyer.

The prosecutor for the Hamilton police service says the case was about the fine line between community policing and stops that go too far and bring discredit to the police service. Saying when Green told him he was waiting for the bus the officer should have moved on.

Green’s lawyer said the officer’s inability during the hearing to remember any training on avoiding racial profiling suggested a problem for the Hamilton police service as a whole.

The hearing officer says he will need time to go through the material before making a judgement. There is no date set for the decision yet.