Winnipeg police officer with history of misconduct allegations accused of wrongful arrests
CBC
A Winnipeg police officer with a history of misconduct allegations is facing more scrutiny after three men say they believe he spent months targeting a restaurant in order to ticket illegal parkers and allege he wrongfully arrested two of the men.
Befekadu Abitew, 44, says it was a fairly typical day in February when he took a video of an incident involving Patrol Sgt. Jeffrey Norman outside Kokeb restaurant in downtown Winnipeg.
The incident led to two men being arrested — and left one expert questioning why a high-ranking officer spent so much time focusing on parking violations.
Seeing Norman by the alleyway near the Edmonton Street restaurant, where Abitew is a regular, had become commonplace by that point, he said.
He told CBC he believes Norman was targeting the restaurant, often waiting for drivers from ride-hailing services or food delivery workers to illegally park near a dumpster so he could ticket them.
"He's terrorizing my community here, terrorizing people, purposely coming into that area," Abitew said in an April interview, referencing Norman's consistent presence at a local hangout for Ethiopians.
"He's always there hunting, purposely, to find if someone is parking in the back lane."
His friend, Tamerat Sisay, 43, who is another regular at Kokeb, also said he frequently saw Norman waiting outside the restaurant.
On Feb. 17, when Abitew spotted Norman and saw a car parked illegally in the alleyway, he said he had an idea of what was coming next, so he started recording on his phone.
The video shows a man, Ayele Abaya, 43, walking toward his car and getting in. Norman comes over, preparing to give him a ticket. Abitew and Sisay begin questioning Norman, asking why he's wasting his time giving out tickets.
Norman then asks Abaya for his licence. Abaya questions why he has to give it to him.
Abaya was driving for Uber that day and had parked in the alleyway while he used a bathroom at a store two businesses down from Kokeb.
"I said, 'Hey officer, have I committed any crime?' And then I tried to explain, but he wasn't willing to listen to my story," Abaya said.
WATCH | Ayele Abaya is taken into custody:
