“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” — Origin unknown.
Const. Mike Kiproff was seemingly trying to give Cole Schneider a break on Jan. 28, 2023.
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Instead, the 33-year Toronto Police veteran finds himself facing an inquisition where even the lawyer prosecuting him under the Police Act doesn’t seem to have her heart in it.
No, the crucifixion of the 55-year-old 51 Division officer has seemingly been driven by police brass.
But one by one, each of the charges Kiproff faced under the Police Act (17 at one point) has been whittled down to a toothpick of four.
‘Came out of nowhere’
Over the last two days, Toronto Police Association lawyer Peter Brauti has left figurative blood on the floor at the Police Act tribunal. TPS legal eagle Jovana Obravic seemed fixated on the charges that were dropped and, Brauti pointed out, the charges had been kicked to the curb. It was a moot point. The TPS lawyer persisted.
On a January day three years ago, Kiproff was heading into work at 51 Division. On the eastbound QEW, he testified that he noticed a car racing up behind him, coming, as he testified, “about six inches” from the rear of his BMW.
“It came out of nowhere. I thought the vehicle was going to crash right through me,” Kiproff said at his hearing Monday. “I tapped my brakes. I thought for sure it was going to happen. He was inches from my bumper.”
‘You brake-checked me’
Kiproff said he was worried that the driver of the other vehicle — later identified as Schneider — could smash into a civilian, causing serious injuries or worse. Particularly if the driver was elderly.
The officer caught up to Schneider and he said he was told, “F— you! You brake-checked me!”
Kiproff said he flashed his badge and the kid seemed to go “oh, oh.”
Kiproff said he followed to get the car’s plate number.
“I thought that was incredibly dangerous,” the officer testifed, offering a brief tutorial on how fish-eye cameras work and how quickly a crash can happen at speeds of over 100 km/h.
Dad allegedly lambasted cop
Schneider was on bail following a heated domestic dispute (his mischief charge was dismissed in 2023) when he allegedly threw his wife’s phone through the window and it smashed on the driveway of the multi-generational home he shared with his parents. New charges could put him behind bars.
Kiproff said he called the home and was promptly lambasted by father Michael Schneider, who allegedly unloaded a slew of invective, spiked with the F-word and topped off with how he much he hated cops. Kiproff said it was “angry” and “vicious.” When Michael heard the beep on Kiproff’s vest camera, Kiproff said he settled down.
The next time he called, Kiproff said he told him to bring his son to 51 Division to try to sort the matter out. He said he was going to charge Cole with either stunt or dangerous driving, but wanted to hear his side of the story. Stunt driving is the lesser charge and not a Criminal Code matter.
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Cop being punished for showing judgment?
In his closing statements on Tuesday, Brauti underscored the difference and explained it point by point. As he took aim at the TPS case, he suggested that everyone present would be somewhere else if the consistent Kiproff had simply laid the charge and issued a warrant for Cole’s arrest.
But Kiproff invoked one of the finest attributes of a good cop: Judgment. He asked the Schneiders in to speak with him with the idea of getting where Cole’s head was at that day and possibly giving him a break. Instead, they turned to activist lawyer Selwyn Peters, who, according to Brauti, sent a “threatening” letter to Kiproff.
According to the investigator for the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency, the TPS alleged that the charge that was eventually laid was retaliatory. Kiproff also informed his superior, who told him to proceed. One by one, Brauti chipped away at the quartet of remaining charges.
‘No good deed goes unpunished’
The TPS closing was, in essence, boiler-plate Police Act case law.
“It seems to me that in giving Cole a chance, Officer Kiproff, by trying to do the right thing, has found himself here,” Brauti said. “It seems that no good deed goes unpunished.”
Supt. Shane Branton reserved judgement and his findings will be released at a later date.
Kiproff had fallen afoul of the Police Act before. In a 2022 incident, a young woman was sexually assaulted at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. The cop demanded the security video of the attack, but was repeatedly refused until he got it, afraid it would be erased by a CAMH manager.
Brauti called the cop’s action in the best interest of the victim, while she called them “heroic.” The girl’s mother said he was “their angel.”
The case was reportedly scrapped after a “compromise” was reached that said he was acting in the best interests of the victim, but that his actions didn’t meet the expectations of an officer.
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