London Police Charge Suspect in JLC-Banana Incident (PHOTO)
AM980 News
9/28/2011
London Police have publicly identified a suspect in connection with last week's banana throwing incident at the John Labatt Centre.
The announcement was made by Police Chief Brad Duncan in a news conference late Wednesday morning at Police headquarters.
"26-year-old Christopher Moorhouse of London has been charged with engaged in a prohibited activity on a premises under the trespass to property act, a provincial statute." said Duncan.
"Mr.Moorhouse has been served with a part three summons, and if convicted of this offence - could be liable to a fine of not more than $2,000. This is a provincial offence and not a criminal charge, and will be dealt with in the provincial offenses court."
Pictures of the suspect, obtained by AM980, are posted below:
Chief Duncan also issued an appeal to allow cooler heads to prevail.
"This incident affected, not only our local community, it was across the national and international plain - and obviously individuals have very strong feelings about what occurred and I just wanted to indicate this individual has expressed remorse, notwithstanding the actions that he undertook, but we don't want individuals to go beyond what the court will do in terms of the penalty. I've heard the term vigilantism," he said.
"We certainly don't want that to occur in this situation, so we're asking that the individual be allowed due process as the charge enters the court."
Police were also asked by reporters why the suspect was not charged with a hate crime.
"We took a very, very careful look at the circumstances and in this particular case it did not meet the threshold of a hate crime." said Chief Duncan.
"You have to demonstrate the incident was motivated by hatred - but the circumstances, and the statements that we've received, would not meet that threshold of a hate crime." he continued, also explaining the evidence did not meet the threshold of a miScheif charge.
Police refused comment Wednesday on whether the suspect had been drinking the night of the hockey game, where the banana was obtained, or whether the act had been caught by security or cellphone camera.
He did credit tips from the public for helping lead Police to the suspect, saying investigators had enough evidence by late Tuesday night to positively identify the individual.
"I can indicate that the tips came from a variety of sources, social media was at play in this at one point, and may have helped somewhat in terms of the identification." he said.
The John Labatt Centre issued a brief statement following the Police newsconference on Wednesday.
"We would like to express our gratitude to the City of London, the police department and the many fans who came forward with information leading to this arrest. We fully support the efforts to prosecute this individual. We have zero tolerance when it comes to this type of foolish behaviour. We will not tolerate it at the John Labatt Centre nor any of the other facilities we manage. The Philadelphia Flyers look forward to our annual preseason game next fall and playing again in our home away from home, the John Labatt Centre."
The developments come days after Police confirmed their involvement in the investigation on Monday. Up until then, the matter was being investigated as an "internal matter" by Global Spectrum and the John Labatt Centre.
Last Thursday's incident resulted in a very public black eye for London with news outlets across Canada and the United States giving the story ample coverage, including ESPN, CNN, The Washington Post and the LA Times.
Mayor Joe Fontana offered a public and written apology to Wayne Simmonds last week, the player who was targeted by the racist gesture, and the entire Philadelphia Flyers organization.
"It's disgusting, it's unacceptable, it's not what Londoners believe in." Fontana told AM980's McArthur in the Morning last Friday.
"We oughta throw the book at the idiot, and a public apology for starters would be the minimum, and banning him from any other sports venue would also be acceptable to me, because that's not what our London is all about."
The banana, thrown from the upper deck of the John Labatt Centre, landed directly in Simmonds path toward Red Wings goalie Jordan Pearce during the shootout.
A second banana was reportedly thrown at Simmonds when he scored the tying goal late in the 3rd period, but the object did not make it to the ice.
Simmonds, 23, who's from Scarborough, told reporters after the game he was unsettled by the incident.
"I don’t know if it had anything to do with the fact I’m black," he said. "I certainly hope not. When you’re black, you kind of expect (racist) things. You learn to deal with it."
"I've never had a banana thrown at me before. That's a first for me," he continued.
"When you’re a black man playing in a predominantly white man’s sport, you’ve got to come to expect things like that," he said. "Over the past 23 years of my life, I’ve come to expect some things like that. But I’m older and more mature now, I kind of just left things roll off (my back). I try not to think about stuff like that. It's over with now." he said.
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