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Toronto
Toronto police suspended the Twitter account belonging to one of its parking enforcement officers dedicate to policing bike lanes.
Spokesperson Mark Pugash told CP24 that they asked parking enforcement officer Kyle Ashley to suspend his account because “we had some concerns of what he was posting.”
Ashley’s account, @TPS_ParkingPal, was frequently used to document drivers who parked in or otherwise obstructed bike lanes.
He amassed thousands of followers and received some media attention earlier this year when police added two other parking enforcement officers to help him police bike lanes in the central area of the city.
Pugash would not say what specifically prompted police to look into Ashley’s account, but earlier today Ashley tweeted a series of comments concerning a private members’ bill by Etobicoke Centre MPP Yvan Baker.
Baker’s bill, The Phones Down, Heads Up Act, calls for fines between $50 and $125 for anyone caught using a phone or any other device while walking in a crosswalk.
Ashley tweeted that the bill was “dribble” and suggested it blamed the victim in many pedestrian vs. vehicle collisions, which are disproportionately caused by drivers, according to available traffic statistics.
“Let’s continue to victim blame. Because walking across the street, your 160 pound body at 3 kilometres per hour, can do some SERIOUS damage. This is dribble,” Ashley wrote in one tweet.
Pugash said he doesn’t know what will come of the review of Ashley’s Twitter activities and stressed that Ashley is not suspended from his actual duties as a parking enforcement officer.
Furthermore, Pugash was quick to say Ashley “has done an excellent job profiling bike lanes in Toronto.”
