Witness Statements of Police Terror in Pelham Park on May 13, 2009.

The following two statements were provided by witnesses to the police terror that transpired in Pelham Park, Toronto, on the night of May 13, 2009, against young teenager Shaq. Shaq's statement to BASICS, "My Statement About the Need for Justice", was published a few weeks earlier and appears in BASICS Issue #14.


Statement by Michael Godelia

It was Wednesday, May 13, 2009 between the time of 9:40pm – 10:00pm and we were standing by the fence by Pelham Avenue when two guys were looking through the fence towards my friend’s house. Then Shaq told my friend’s cousin that “2 guys were looking at her house through the fence.” So she was swearing at them to move from the fence. So they moved. Then Shaq was riding his bike on Osler going to the store for his mom. That’s when the undercovers grabbed him off his bike. Meanwhile there were uniform officers already at the scene distracting us from what really was happening. He was asking personal information about us. Later when I told them that my friend was grabbed by the two undercover officers, they were oblivious to the situation. So my brother and Tyty ran over to see what was going on with Shaq and they did not see him or his bike. All they saw was the undercover officers. So they came back and waited for a few minutes and then we saw Shaq riding on his bike and he fell to the ground and the undercovers were just watching him. Then my brother picked him up and took him to his house and the undercovers drove off. The cops who were on the scene came to Shaq’s house, they looked at him and decided not to phone for an ambulance. When my friend Tyty and his mom asked the officers if they were going to speak to the mother they replied “F*** THE MOTHER” and left. Then the ambulance came two hours later to pick up Shaq.

Statement by Tyshawn F.

I am writing a statement about my friend Shaq and the night he was beat up by the police.
It was Wednesday, May 13, 2009 sometime between 9:00pm – 10:00pm and we were playing games outside when Shaq saw a bunch of police and told others to be careful. After that he was going to the store for his mom and at the time and me and others heard him scream but two officers were distracting us. So a while after we didn’t see anything so me and my friend went to see what was going on and I saw a fist go down while two others were just standing around so I went home to call my mom but by the time we got back we saw one of my friends carrying him to his house. So after a while the police that were distracting us came to Shaq’s house and left. Then me and my mom tried to stop them and asked if they were going to talk to the mother and the male officers said ‘f*** the mother’.