Theriault receives sentencing
Former Toronto police officer to spend nine months in jail for assault of Dafonte Miller
Former Toronto police officer Michael Theriault has been sentenced to nine months in jail for the assault of Dafonte Miller in late December 2016. The sentencing was carried out by Ontario Superior Court Justice Joseph Di Luca.
By Chris Jones/The Oshawa Express
The Toronto police officer who assaulted a young black man in Whitby will spend nine months in jail.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Joseph Di Luca has sentenced Michael Theriault to nine months in jail for the assault of Dafonte Miller in late December 2016.
The violent incident resulted in Miller eventually losing his left eye, as well as a broken orbital bone, broken nose, and a fractured wrist.
Speaking on the sentencing, Di Luca says a jail sentence is the only option which can point to the seriousness of the offence.
“Serious offences warrant serious punishment, even when they are committed by otherwise law abiding people,” says Di Luca.
After being arrested in 2017, Theriault has been suspended from the Toronto Police Service with pay. Now that he has been sentenced, he will no longer receive any pay.
The sentencing comes after Di Luca determined Theriault and his younger brother Christian were innocent of aggravated assault, but Theriault was found guilty of a lesser charge of assault.
Di Luca determined there were several inconsistencies in the evidence on both sides of the case.
The brothers and their lawyers tried to argue that Miller pulled a pipe from his pant leg, as opposed to the other way around, and Di Luca found it unlikely Miller would have been able to run with the pipe in his pants.
On the other hand, the brothers claimed they found Miller and his friend breaking into the elder brother’s truck, and Di Luca found Miller’s side of the story had some inconsistencies.
However, Di Luca acknowledged the role of race in the trial, stating he had to accept the realities of racialized individuals while assessing Miller’s credibility.
“As a young black man, Mr. Miller may well have had any number of reasons for denying his wrongdoing,” he said at the time.
At the sentencing submissions, Theriault was given the opportunity to address Di Luca, where he stated his regret and that he did not intend to hurt Miller.
“I am so sorry he was severely and permanently injured,” he says.
In a statement released by his lawyers before the sentencing, Miller called for Theriault to serve “real jail time.”
“Throughout this process, all I have ever wanted was for those responsible for causing me harm and altering my life to be held accountable,” he said in the statement.