Amir Hameed, an immigrant from Pakistan, witnessed the killing. In the early hours of that morning two cops were called in response to an argument in the store between Vass and another customer. They escorted Vass out of the store, which was across from where he lived. One of the cops shoved him to the ground. They punched him and beat him with their batons. Two other cops arrived and pinned Vass to the ground while the others continued the beating. Paramedics who arrived were unable to revive him.

"He was screaming in pain," said Hameed. "He never hit an officer--they never gave him a chance, and he never tried to. They were beating him worse than an animal."

The Special Investigations Unit (SIU), a civilian provincial government body that investigates situations where police actions result in injury or death, carried out a three-month investigation behind closed doors. The results of the autopsy were never made public. This is only the second time in the 10-year history of the SIU that a cop has been charged. In the earlier case, the cop was acquitted of manslaughter charges.  
 
Protests over killing
Pressure to charge the cops was generated by a series of protests organized by friends of the Vass family and opponents of police brutality, who formed the Justice for Otto Vass committee. An August 16 demonstration in front of police headquarters was supported by the Committee to Stop Targeted Policing, Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, Canadian Auto Workers union, and Black Action Defense Committee (BADC).

About 100 people attended a public forum October 11 that was organized by the committee. A central demand of the campaign for justice has been that the cops who killed Vass be charged with murder.

At the forum, Maria Judas, a friend of the Vass family who attended his funeral, explained that because of the cop beating she could hardly recognize his face as he lay in the casket. Dudley Laws, a leader of BADC, reviewed the number of victims of police brutality over the past 15 years. "Despite the protests, not one policeman has gone to jail," said Laws. "But we have to keep going into the streets."

Uniformed and nonuniformed cops packed the courtroom when the four who beat Vass were brought to court. Vass's widow, Zsuzsanna Vass, and her lawyer also attended. "I want justice done," she told the press.  
 
Cop mobilization at court hearing
Behind the Queen Street courthouse, armed on-duty officers linked arms and formed a human wall around the van with tinted windows in which the four cops were being transported to the court, preventing the media from approaching them. Some of the cops taunted and insulted reporters. Craig Bromell, head of the 7,000-member Toronto Police Association, spoke in defense of the four indicted cops.

Metro police chief Julian Fantino released a statement saying that the cops have been reassigned to desk duties until the case is resolved.

Ontario premier Michael Harris said he hoped the charges hadn't shaken public confidence in the police.

The Vass family's lawyer, Julian Falconer, said the four officers' release conditions were lighter than any conditions his civilian clients accused of manslaughter have ever received. The four were released and ordered not to perform duties of a "peace officer" or possess weapons. He called on the provincial attorney general's office to give the Crown attorneys the resources necessary for a fair trial against the "veritable dream team on the defense side."

The four charged cops are scheduled to return to court November 23.

The indictment of the cops takes place in the midst of the Toronto municipal election campaign, which ends November 13. At his election launch rally in September, incumbent mayor Melvin Lastman boasted that he had hired more cops than any previous mayor.

John Steele is a meat packer and member of the United Food and Commercial Workers union.