08.14.2012 04:05 PM

On open letter to Toronto police

Dear Toronto Police Service:

Warren here.  Now that you have changed the law to protect the mayor of Toronto, I figured I’d drop you a line.

This story, you see, has pissed me (and plenty of others) right off.  Rob Ford clearly broke the law.  Everyone knows it.  You should, too.

You guys aren’t allowed to pick and choose which laws apply to which people.  It’s supposed to be, you know, one law for everyone.  Remember that?  Anyway, the next time you pull over someone for distracted or careless driving, me and my lawyer friends plan to make use of the heretofore-unknown Rob Ford Exemption.  Worked for him, so it’ll work for us.

Oh, and here’s the law, which you apparently no longer enforce.  Thanks for the head’s up.

Your pal,

Warren

30 Comments

  1. john says:

    mystified. Think the star is over the top most of the time with ford. but this is bizarre.

  2. cory says:

    So bypass the police Warren. Anyone can file an information. Them it’s up to crown prosecutors.

  3. Danno says:

    Do we have the right to perform Citizen’s arrests yet?

  4. dillon says:

    Where is the evidence that Ford was “driving”. Probably parked in his driveway .

    • James Bow says:

      Ford has a ten foot retaining wall on the side of his driveway in front of his suburban home?

    • Attack! says:

      nice try, dillon, but Ford copped to it during a press conference today, in a clip that ran at the end of Power & Politics, & it sounds like it’s a pretty routine occurrence for him to multitask while driving (“I’m a busy man”).

  5. Hypocrite says:

    I am a fucking asshole.

  6. Mulletaur says:

    Conservatives always think they are above the law as soon as they get a little taste of power, and Ford is no different than the rest of them.

  7. Steven says:

    Then again, how different is it from the late, former (now deified) Toronto City Councillor J. Layton’s “I was only there for some shiatsu” (January 9, 1996) explanation just after the hooker dropped the “wet tissue” into the garbage when the Toronto cops raided his “Velvet Touch” therapy room?

    Equal before the law? Discuss.

    • Pat says:

      This issue is that he was caught, on camera, breaking the law. The law he was breaking put the lives of others at stake (and probably not his own, because if an Escalade crashes into a Neon we would probably walk away unscathed).

      The evidence against Layton was nowhere near as conclusive (based on any reports I read) and he certainly wasn’t putting anyone’s life at risk.

  8. Dude Love says:

    You are missing the points about the cited section. Reading while driving, holding a coffee, tuning the radio, are not covered the distracted driving law. Careless driving is generally cited after the person has caused an accident. Law not broken.

    • Adam H. says:

      Not being cited is NOT the same as the law not being broken. Ford was plainly and admittedly driving ‘without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the highway.’

      • Dude Love says:

        You are only charged with careless if you ACTUALLY cause an accident. Not supporting the mans actions, but the reality is, the charge is never applied as stated.

        • Adam H. says:

          Just last week Carmen Velocci was charged with careless driving because she was reading while driving. No accident occurred. The idea that an accident has to occur before a careless driving charge can be laid is wrong.

          • Dude Love says:

            The optimal word in the article said is “facing” and was caught by an officer not someone with a camera.

            “It was alleged that the officer saw her “reading a book in plain sight to the officer while travelling at 100 kilometres per hour,” the OPP said in a press release the next day.”

            You most likely break some law everyday, however, you are fortunate enough not to get caught or an office believes the infraction is not worth their time ticketing.

          • Adam H. says:

            How is the key word “facing”? She has been charged with careless driving even though she didn’t cause an accident – something you said couldn’t happen.

            And no, I don’t dick around while I’m driving.

          • Dude Love says:

            The careless driving will get downgraded to improper lane change or toss out since no harm was done, negotiated down before even going before the judge. Traffic court is a hagglers market, you make deals with the crown in order to speed up the process.

            And by dicking around, do you make a right or left hand turn while a pedestrian is in the cross walk or before they reach the opposite curb? Stop past the white lane marker on at a stop sign or street light? Move around a vehicle in a single lane when they are making a turn? Drive across parking spot lanes in a parking lot? All of these are chargable driving offenses and the pedestrian is actually public endangerment.

          • Dude Love says:

            ps. Take a day and actually follow the HTA to the letter and see how many people honk at you and possibly get pulled over for being a “road nuisance”.

            The HTA makes up 10% of the provincial law but 90% of police time is spent “enforcing” the HTA.

  9. CQ says:

    Would you like $1,000 and a court-ordered apology?
    From Warren’s once potential federal riding province of B.C.:
    http://classicquarters.blogspot.ca/2012/07/polands-favourite-canadian-cop-free.html (Jul 28th)

  10. Brad Young says:

    Be carefully what you wish for. Last night for the second time I had the pleasure of being stuck in traffic due to Steve Harpers presidential motorcade. Last summer it was on hwy 400 while he was off visiting rob ford at the cottage.

    Last night it was on Mississauga Road, he was going into the Croation Park, just south of Eglington. Does he really need all those cops on motorcycles? Did they all need to lineup across from the entrance way in some sort of tribute to the great leader?

    I thought he was tough on crime, shouldn’t the police officers be out hunting down all the violent offenders? What a fucking ego he must have, it’s sickening.

  11. Tim Sullivan says:

    Ottawa had it with Larry O’Brien, so TO didn’t have to break the mold again. Sorry TO. Those in Ottawa warned you.

    • Adam H. says:

      When Larry “Throbulator” O’Brien was elected, I’ll admit, I experienced a rush of schadenfreude.

      I’d like to apologize for that. I understand why people in Ottawa point and laugh at us now.

  12. pcase says:

    If you haven’t listened to the police officer who was on Metro Morning today, please go to the podcast. He was on at about 7:20AM.
    It is insane.
    The cops are making a big mess out of this. Although, one fellow posted a strong message on the police service Facebook page, which should be commended.

  13. Anne Peterson says:

    Obama is president of the US and probably in the sights of thousands of people in this world because of it. Harper is the president of nothing and is in no one’s sights, no matter how his zealous supporters try to make this crazy security fetish of his look normal. It is NOT normal. It is crazy and paranoid.

  14. Rob Bell says:

    But be honest have you never done this. I know I have on occasion, I think every busy person has. But the press has never deemed it newsworthy to distribute pictures of me doing it.

    • Adam H. says:

      You’re not the mayor, and presumably you don’t think that cyclists who are killed by cars on the road have nobody to blame but themselves – unlike Rob Ford, who thinks exactly that.

  15. Michael Reintjes says:

    Man..I wonder what Ted Kennedy would think about this?

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