By Canadian Press

Supreme Court sides with Toronto man over detention in race-tinged case

May 31, 2019 | 7:23 AM

OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada has set aside a man’s gun and drug-related convictions, saying police had no reasonable cause to walk into a backyard and begin questioning him.

The ruling comes today in the case of Tom Le, an Asian-Canadian man who was arrested by police at a west Toronto housing complex in May 2012.

Le was chatting with four black youths in a backyard one night when police officers showed up.

Less than a minute later, a nervous Le fled but he was soon tackled and apprehended a short distance away with a bag containing a loaded handgun, cocaine and a considerable amount of cash.

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At his trial, he argued the police violated his constitutional rights to be free from arbitrary detention and unreasonable search and that the evidence should be excluded.

The trial judge found that the police had legally detained Le, who unsuccessfully challenged the conviction, prompting his appeal to the Supreme Court.

The Canadian Press