Attorney General Kelson Roberts of Ontario ordered an investigation today into the detention of a New York rabbi who accused Toronto police of mistreating him in an arrest.
The Attorney General acted after the Canadian Jewish Congress and several leading newspapers in the province urged a complete official inquiry into the controversy. The Jewish organization said it appeared that Rabbi Norman Leiner, an Orthodox rabbi, who came to Toronto to give a lecture at a Yeshiva, was halted by police on a Friday evening as he was taking a walk.
Police officials agreed with Rabbi Leiner’s statement that he could not give the police identification since he had no wallet with him for religious reasons on the Sabbath. He was asked to come to the police station in the police car but refused on grounds he could not ride on the Jewish Sabbath.
He offered to walk the seven miles to the precinct station, or to accompany the police on foot to the nearby home of a Toronto rabbi who could establish his identity. The police rejected the offer and forced him into the police vehicle and drove him to the station. He was released there when his identity was established.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
