A high-ranking Toronto police officer told internal investigators that she did not intend to influence the course of an investigation when she attended the scene of her nephew’s car crash, according to a recording of an interview played for a disciplinary tribunal on Friday.
Inspector Joyce Schertzer, a high-ranking former homicide detective, faces three counts of misconduct over allegations she involved herself in an investigation after her nephew, Calvin Dejak, crashed his white pickup truck into a hydro pole on Toronto’s lakeshore in May, 2022. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
“I wasn’t trying to circumvent anything,” Insp. Schertzer said, her voice breaking, during an interview with Insp. John Babiar in August, 2022.
“I wasn’t trying to influence anyone. It’s very important to me that you know that I have never in my life neglected duty at anything. I get in trouble because I don’t neglect duty.”
The internal disciplinary hearing, which began on Monday, is being administered by the Toronto Police Service and adjudicated by a retired Ontario Provincial Police superintendent. Friday’s hearing was adjourned for the day before the full recording could be played.
Mr. Dejak crashed his truck while exiting the upscale Boulevard Club, a lakefront club along Lake Shore Boulevard, around 11:20 a.m. on May 1, 2022, according to surveillance footage played during the hearing. The video shows the truck turning left onto the westbound lane of Lake Shore Boulevard, before accelerating and hitting a pole, significantly damaging the vehicle.
In police body-camera footage, Mr. Dejak tells Constable Braden Doherty of 11 Division – Insp. Schertzer’s subordinate officer – that he sped up to avoid a car approaching in the eastbound lane, but lost control and crashed. Earlier this week, Constable Doherty told the tribunal he had determined there was “no criminality” in the crash, and that he did not believe alcohol was a factor.
Body-camera footage shows Mr. Dejak being released from the scene by Constable Doherty. During her interview, Insp. Schertzer said she was “acquiescing” to the officer’s “better judgment.”
Mr. Dejak returned only after a superintendent for the Traffic Services unit demanded Insp. Schertzer bring him back, according to testimony heard earlier this week.
Constable Michael Clarke, a traffic services officer, told the tribunal on Thursday that he suspected Mr. Dejak had been consuming alcohol prior to the crash – but said he could not administer a breath test because Mr. Dejak returned to the scene outside of the three-hour window for a test.
In her interview, Insp. Schertzer told investigators she didn’t detect alcohol. “I did not detect an odour on him whatsoever,” she says, adding that, though “not medically proven,” she has a “heightened sense of smell.”
Insp. Schertzer, then the unit commander for 11 Division, said she learned of the crash after she was contacted by her daughter, who is also a Toronto Police Service officer. Insp. Schertzer said she had been at the police station that day doing administrative work.
The case’s prosecutor, lawyer Scott Hutchison, has said that the inspector instructed the front desk at 11 Division to dispatch an officer to the scene – despite the crash having occurred in the catchment area for the neighbouring 14 Division.
“I didn’t know that it was 14 Division’s, but I don’t know that that would have made a lot of difference,” Insp. Schertzer told investigators during her interview. “I still would have called the front desk to ask them to dispatch a car.”
The inspector told investigators that she was first on the scene, but said she wasn’t rushing because it was raining, because of a photo radar along her route, and because she didn’t know what she’d find when she arrived.
“So, when you tend that scene, you’re technically on duty, correct?,” Insp. Babiar asks during the interview.
“I’m always on duty, inspector,” Insp. Schertzer replies. “I would never consider myself off.”
“So then that puts you as the first officer on scene,” Insp. Babiar says. “Did you consider that?”
“No, I didn’t,” she responds. “I didn’t even consider myself to be really on duty, to be quite honest with you.”
The hearing continues next week and is scheduled to wrap up on Tuesday.