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Police officer terrorized WestJet flight
Toronto constable convicted of sex assault, threats
Court hears how flight attendant endured abuse
PAUL MORSE, TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE
A drunk Toronto police constable who threatened to kill passengers and crew on a Hamilton-bound WestJet flight, sexually assaulted a female flight attendant and was dragged off the plane by police has been convicted.
Constable Amarjit Singh Grewal, 34, pleaded guilty yesterday in a Hamilton courtroom to making death threats, assault and sexual assault.
Grewal had also faced a charge of endangering an aircraft, which was withdrawn.
The ordeal began 39 minutes into a 3 1/2-hour flight from Edmonton to Hamilton on Aug. 27, 2002, when crew members noticed Grewal acting strangely toward a little girl and her father sitting across the aisle from him.
An intoxicated Grewal, a 14-year uniformed Toronto police officer with the central traffic bureau, kept shoving a $100 bill at the father, insisting he was trying to help them, according to an agreed statement of facts heard by Ontario Court Justice Robert Weseloh.
The attendant, who by court order cannot be identified, arranged to move the father and little girl to other seats after the man told her he was scared.
Grewal became very angry. He placed his right hand in the air like a gun, and shouted, "You have no idea what I can do to all of these people on the plane. I could f------ blow them away."
Grewal told the attendant he was a millionaire, could supply people with cocaine, and that he had just gone through a divorce.
"I try to be good, but I always end up being bad," he told her.
While other crew alerted the captain, the attendant talked him into moving to the last row.
She began to panic when Grewal pushed her into the window seat, pressed up against her and began to stroke her face while speaking in a foreign language.
"He grabbed my right arm, placed his hand behind my neck and head-butted me. He continued to do that throughout the flight," court heard.
Grewal touched her breast, "and put his hand down my pants, inside my underwear and grabbed my rear end."
He also grabbed another flight attendant around the back of her neck, pulled her face to his, and said, "I have control. Are you girls going to be bad to me?"
Meanwhile, the plane's captain radioed for help. The flight could not be diverted to Winnipeg because of thunderstorms so it continued to Hamilton.
Grewal told the attendant he owned yachts where guests had drugs, alcohol "and lots of sex."
When Grewal went to the bathroom, the captain asked the attendant to keep him distracted. He continued to grab her. "He said he would jump on top of me and have sex in the seat."
When the plane landed in Hamilton at 1:30 a.m., police hustled Grewal away. He was suspended without pay.
He will be sentenced June 24 in Hamilton.
- 30 -
Quae potu peccas, ignoscere tu tibi noli;
Nam crimen nullum vini est, sed culpa bibentis.
-- Cato
(The crimes you commit in drinking do not fail to recognize;
There is no fault in wine, but the fault is that of the drinker.)
Toronto constable convicted of sex assault, threats
Court hears how flight attendant endured abuse
PAUL MORSE, TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE
A drunk Toronto police constable who threatened to kill passengers and crew on a Hamilton-bound WestJet flight, sexually assaulted a female flight attendant and was dragged off the plane by police has been convicted.
Constable Amarjit Singh Grewal, 34, pleaded guilty yesterday in a Hamilton courtroom to making death threats, assault and sexual assault.
Grewal had also faced a charge of endangering an aircraft, which was withdrawn.
The ordeal began 39 minutes into a 3 1/2-hour flight from Edmonton to Hamilton on Aug. 27, 2002, when crew members noticed Grewal acting strangely toward a little girl and her father sitting across the aisle from him.
An intoxicated Grewal, a 14-year uniformed Toronto police officer with the central traffic bureau, kept shoving a $100 bill at the father, insisting he was trying to help them, according to an agreed statement of facts heard by Ontario Court Justice Robert Weseloh.
The attendant, who by court order cannot be identified, arranged to move the father and little girl to other seats after the man told her he was scared.
Grewal became very angry. He placed his right hand in the air like a gun, and shouted, "You have no idea what I can do to all of these people on the plane. I could f------ blow them away."
Grewal told the attendant he was a millionaire, could supply people with cocaine, and that he had just gone through a divorce.
"I try to be good, but I always end up being bad," he told her.
While other crew alerted the captain, the attendant talked him into moving to the last row.
She began to panic when Grewal pushed her into the window seat, pressed up against her and began to stroke her face while speaking in a foreign language.
"He grabbed my right arm, placed his hand behind my neck and head-butted me. He continued to do that throughout the flight," court heard.
Grewal touched her breast, "and put his hand down my pants, inside my underwear and grabbed my rear end."
He also grabbed another flight attendant around the back of her neck, pulled her face to his, and said, "I have control. Are you girls going to be bad to me?"
Meanwhile, the plane's captain radioed for help. The flight could not be diverted to Winnipeg because of thunderstorms so it continued to Hamilton.
Grewal told the attendant he owned yachts where guests had drugs, alcohol "and lots of sex."
When Grewal went to the bathroom, the captain asked the attendant to keep him distracted. He continued to grab her. "He said he would jump on top of me and have sex in the seat."
When the plane landed in Hamilton at 1:30 a.m., police hustled Grewal away. He was suspended without pay.
He will be sentenced June 24 in Hamilton.
- 30 -
Quae potu peccas, ignoscere tu tibi noli;
Nam crimen nullum vini est, sed culpa bibentis.
-- Cato
(The crimes you commit in drinking do not fail to recognize;
There is no fault in wine, but the fault is that of the drinker.)
