canmark
Active Member
More on the #gravybus story. Toronto Star: No need for bus for Mayor Rob Ford’s football team, opposing player says
There was no need for police to call a TTC bus to rush Mayor Rob Ford’s Don Bosco Eagles away from the Father Henry Carr football field on Thursday, a Carr player says.
A police spokesperson, Mark Pugash, has said that officers asked for the bus because they were concerned about the possible “escalation” of a dispute between an agitated Carr coach and the game referee.
The player’s account, however, largely corroborated the account of a school board spokesperson who says there was never any reason to fear a brawl or worse — and that the Carr players had already left the field as the Bosco players waited for transportation.
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Catholic school board spokesperson John Yan has repeatedly said that the cold and wet weather was the only reason the bus was called; the players, he said, were “exemplary.” Another police spokesperson, Const. Tony Vella, also said the weather was the primary factor. And Brian Riddell, executive secretary for the Toronto District Catholic Athletic Association, said that there was “no confrontation between the two teams whatsoever.”
But Ford said the situation “could have gotten really ugly” had he not been present to “control” his own team. “We had to get out of their field, and the police made that call,” he said Thursday. He refused on Monday to explain why the team needed the bus, saying that is a question for the police.
The police and the school board also disagree on why eight officers were at the field at the end of the game. Pugash said the two school officers who were present prior to the dispute grew concerned enough to call for reinforcements. But Yan said the six extra officers happened to be conducting “community outreach” work nearby and were invited by Don Bosco’s principal to speak to residents at the field.