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NEWMARKET, Ontario, December 17, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – A Canadian man found himself at the receiving end of restrictive local COVID-19 rules after multiple “mall cops” slammed him to the floor for violating the mall’s ban on eating in its food court and breaking its mandatory mask rule. 

The incident took place at the Upper Canada Mall located in Newmarket, Ontario, last week. Pickering, Ontario resident Josh Walker was in the mall with his girlfriend and they were eating in the food court, with their masks off, which went against the mall's rules. 

The mall's food was open for take-out only, as its COVID-19 rules ban eating in the food court. The couple were approached by mall security and asked to leave, which they agreed to do.  

According to a Toronto Sun report about the incident, a video of the event posted on YouTube shows Walker, who is reported to be a reservist with the Canadian Armed Forces’ Queen’s Own Rifles, get into a scuffle with security guards before being fully escorted out of the mall. 

“You have got the three f***ing stooges here,” Walker can be heard saying laughingly while being escorted out of the mall by security guards, while wearing a mask. 

“There’s Curly….Larry, and f***ing Moe,” said Walker. 

In the video of the incident, immediately after his three stooges’ comments to mall security, Walker can be heard saying “don’t put your hands on me bro” repeatedly, before a security guard says to him, “You are under arrest for trespassing.”

According to Walker’s pregnant girlfriend Samantha-Lynn Johnson in the Toronto Sun report, Walker was pushed to the ground by mall security guards. 

At this point in the video, Walker drops his phone which Johnson then picks up. She continued to record the incident, which shows the mall security guards forcibly tackling Walker to the ground while he appears to be resisting restraint. 

“Stop, what are you talking about we are leaving,” Johnson can be heard saying to which a security guard replies, “you’re not leaving.” 

“Yes we are, exits right straight, through those doors like I told you, are you kidding me our exits right there,” said Johnson in reply.

The video shows the mall security guards struggling to hold down Walker, while his girlfriend Johnson, shouts at them again saying that their exit is “right there.” 

A security guard can be heard saying, “stop resisting man,” while Walker can be heard saying “get the **ck off me.” 

Johnson can then be heard pleading with the mall security guards again telling them that they were leaving when a mall security guard tells her to “get back,” to which she replies, “Holy *hit I’m pregnant.” 

According to the Toronto Sun report, Johnson said in a statement that she and Walker agreed to leave the mall after security guards asked them to and added that she questions as why Walker was targeted.

“They threw him to the ground and smashed his face,” said Johnson in the statement. 

“It was six white men against one black man. This was a racial attack.”

The Toronto Sun report also stated that Walker was treated for “minor injuries” at a local hospital. 

Adrienne Simic, a spokesperson for the Upper Canada Mall, said that the local public health authorities have “requested we enforce strict adherence to wearing masks and our food retailers are only open for take-out orders.” 

Simic said that mall security approached a total of two groups who were eating in the food court, against mall rules. 

“One guest acquiesced when advised that food cannot be consumed in the centre due to government regulations and left with his food. The other guests refused and became increasingly aggressive,” said Simic as reported by the Toronto Sun. 

Walker was charged with assault with intent to resist arrest, as well as violating the Trespass to Property Act by the York Regional Police the day after the altercation. 

According to a statement by York Police in the Toronto Sun report, the mall security “attempted to arrest the suspect who resisted arrest and assaulted the guards during the altercation.”

Police added that their officers reviewed “countless hours of video surveillance footage” to charge Walker with assault, adding that they found no evidence of an “offence committed by the security guards.”

“The security guard observed two people in the food court area eating and not wearing masks. They were asked to disperse and failed to comply,” said police in their statement. “The suspect was yelling and swearing at the security officers,” police added. 

A large portion of Ontario, including the Toronto, Peel and York regions, are currently under the most restrictive “Lockdown-Grey” category in the province, and the government has said they will most likely remain at this level until at least a few days before Christmas. The York region was only yesterday added to the “Lockdown-Grey” category. 

Incidents such as Walker’s have become more commonplace across Canada and the United States as some businesses and law enforcement take extreme measures to enforce local COVID-19 rules. 

Recently, United Airlines kicked a family off a flight because their two-year-old refused to put on a mask.  

In late November, Adam Skelly, who owns Adamson BBQ in Etobicoke was arrested for defying local COVID health orders by opening up his dining room despite it being banned under local COVID-19 health restrictions.

Skelly was later released on bail but is facing multiple charges. He has since been allowed to open his restaurant, but only for take-out.

Independent Ontario MPP Randy Hillier has been openly critical of the Ford government’s COVID-19 restrictions. He was recently charged for both organizing and attending an anti-lockdown protest held outside the provincial legislature. 

Premier of the province Doug Ford recently said that he expects families to avoid “holiday parties or large family dinners” for 2020 in a politically correct announcement about “Holiday Season Safety” that did not mention Christmas at all.

Contact information:

Premier Doug Ford
Room 281
Legislative Building, Queen’s Park
Toronto, ON M7A 1A1
Tel. 416-325-1941
Email: [email protected]
Website contact form: https://correspondence.premier.gov.on.ca/EN/feedback/default.aspx

Ontario MPP Contact information page:
https://www.ola.org/en/members/current/contact-information