Serial killer Bruce McArthur denies assault allegations in new video from police interview in 2016

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DISCLAIMER: This story contains graphic details

A recently released video of a 2016 police interview with serial killer Bruce McArthur details the version of events he provided to investigators after he was accused of assaulting a man in the back of his van in Tim Hortons parking less than two years before his charge. with the murder of eight men.

The video was first shown as an exhibit during Sgt. Paul Gauthier, a Toronto police officer who was charged under the Police Services Act for dealing with a complaint filed by a man who accused McArthur of assaulting him in June 2016.

In August, Gauthier was found not guilty of the two charges he faced – insubordination and dereliction of duty – but a court ruled on Monday that the Toronto Police Service had wrongly withdrawn the police interview as exhibit during the disciplinary hearing for Gauthier. The court ruled that the video should be released to the media despite objections from the prosecution and Gauthier’s defense team.

“The failure in this case to produce the documents requested by the applicants until the end of the hearing contravened the principle of the public hearing”, reads the decision.

The police interview took place on the night of June 20, 2016, just hours after a complainant presented himself to police and accused McArthur of assaulting him during a sexual encounter at the back of a pickup truck in the parking lot of a Tim Hortons near Bathurst Street. and Finch Avenue.

The identity of the complainant is protected by a court-ordered publication ban.

The police interview with the man who accused McArthur of assault was not filmed, but in previously released court documents, the plaintiff reported that during the meeting that evening, McArthur “had a angry look on his face “as he tried to pin the man’s arms down and strangle him.

“The victim begged McArthur to let him go although he had difficulty breathing because McArthur crushed his larynx,” court documents say.

The man told police he managed to break free of McArthur’s grip and get out of the van.

He immediately called 911 and McArthur left, according to the documents.

McArthur was asked about the incident in an 11-minute police interview, conducted by Gauthier.

“Choking was the allegation made and that’s basically why you’re under arrest today,” Gauthier could be heard saying in the video.

After being made aware of his rights, McArthur confirmed to Gauthier and another officer in the room that he did not need a lawyer present and that he wished to make a statement to the police.

During the interview, McArthur said that he and the complainant agreed to have sex in the back of his Dodge Grand Caravan that evening.

McArthur said that at one point the plaintiff asked him to pinch his genitals “as hard as he could”.

“So I thought, ‘Okay, he likes it rough. So I put my hand on her throat.

After that, he claimed that the complainant decided to turn around and grab McArthur by the throat.

“He said, ‘And now I’m going to show you what I’m going to do to you’ and he took me by the throat so that I couldn’t breathe,” McArthur told the officers.

“So I threw my hands up like I was surrendering because I couldn’t speak and that’s when he finally let go.”

McArthur said the man abruptly “jumped out of the car”.

According to McArthur, the man got into his car and could hear her say something about calling 911.

“I thought, ‘Oh my God, he’s calling the cops’ and I walked out. And then he got out and walked around and took my license plate and that and that’s when I got a little tense and got in the car and left, ”he said. stated during the interview.

“Then the more I thought about it, the more I was like, ‘Well, I should go out there and give my share. But I couldn’t think for my life where a police station was in that area. “

McArthur said he eventually ended up in an Eglinton Avenue police station, but when he spoke to an officer there, they told him there was no record of the complaint .

“She said she wrote my name and she said there was nothing on the screen,” he said.

McArthur said he had known the victim for two or three years but did not know his last name.

“I thought he liked it raw,” McArthur told Gauthier.

When Gauthier asked McArthur if he believed the victim suffered any injuries during the encounter, he replied, “I don’t think so.”

McArthur confirmed that the two meet every two or three months and when asked if anything had ever gotten violent before, he said no.

“We have had sex a number of times and have never had a problem,” McArthur said.

While some follow-up questions were asked by Gauthier during the interview, McArthur’s version of events went largely undisputed.

McArthur was later released after his story was found to be credible.

Less than two years after the incident in the Tim Hortons parking lot, McArthur was arrested and charged with the murder of eight men who went missing between 2010 and 2017. He pleaded guilty to the murders in January 2019.

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