October 3 Toronto Derek George Grant […]

Graph

When

1979-10-03

Description

October 3 Toronto Derek George Grant died of a seizure while in police custody after being entrapped and arrested in the washroom of the Parkside Tavern, 530 Yonge Street. Two police officers were hidden in a storage room next to the washroom, and had been observing the washroom through a ventilation grate. Grant and three other men were seen having sex. The policemen burst in and arrested the men, but in the ensuing melee two of the men escaped. Grant was placed in a headlock and later choked during a panic attack at police headquarters, and could not be revived. The man arrested with Grant was not charged, and was released. The Toronto Police Morality Bureau later revealed that twenty-eight men had been arrested in the Parkside's washroom during 1979 alone. A coroner's inquest later ruled that Grant's death had been accidental. (See also February 25, 1980.)

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Parkside Tavern Toronto

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Derek George Grant

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Toronto Police Morality Bureau Toronto Police Service

All Citations

"The View from Morality's Window," Body Politic, no. 62 (1980), p. 27."Police Station Death Accidental: Inquest," Toronto Sun, 24 January 1980, p. 22 Peter Maloney, "Parkside: 28 Arrests—1 Death," RTPC Newsbreak (Toronto), (March 1980), pp. 1, 3–4 Peter Maloney, "Gay Politics," Our Toronto, 1, no. 8 (23 February–6 March 1980): 4–6 Ann Hansen, "Gay Groups Gain Ground with Cops in Push Sparked by Washroom Arrest, Death," Toronto Clarion, 16–29 April 1980, p. 3 Gerald Hannon, "Epitaph for the Parkside," Body Politic, no. 62 (1980), pp. 1, 26–28 Gerald Hannon, "Entrapped at Tavern, Man Dies in Custody," Body Politic, no. 61 (1980), pp. 10–11

Graph Legend

Derek George Grant

Names

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