Toronto Star
August 28th 2002



Officer charged in assault on flight


HAMILTON (CP) - An off-duty Toronto police officer was charged with assault early today after a disturbance on a WestJet flight.
The pilot asked for police officers to meet the flight from Edmonton after a passenger became unruly, Hamilton police said.

They arrested a 32-year-old man when Flight 659, carrying five crew members and about 100 passengers, touched down at about 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

Amarjit Grewal, a 13-year veteran constable of the Toronto force, is charged with two counts of assault, sexual assault, threatening and endangering the safety of an aircraft.

Grewal was suspended from duty and a court appearance scheduled for Wednesday afternoon was put over to Thursday, police said.

"We're treating it very seriously," said Sgt. Gary Ostifi, a Hamilton police spokesman. "We are opposing his bail."