WARMINGTON: Toronto cop and anti-drunk-driving crusader charged with impaired

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Yet another high- ranking Toronto cop has been shockingly criminally charged.

Senior Toronto Police officer Insp. Michael Hayles, who has in the past asked drivers to “make the right choice” and “designate a sober driver,” has now been charged himself by his own service for alleged impaired driving.

“At approximately 6 a.m. on Sunday, Toronto Police responded to a call for an individual reportedly asleep behind the wheel of a stopped vehicle in the area of Laird Dr. and Eglinton Ave. E.,” Toronto Police spokesperson Nadine Ramadan said.

When they arrived at the scene, police allegedly discovered the second-in-command at 55 Division, who has served as an acting superintendent.

“Inspector Michael Hayles, who was off duty at the time, was arrested and charged with impaired operation/conveyance” and “impaired operation/conveyance/exceed blood alcohol concentration,” police said.

The 30-year veteran has been “suspended with pay in accordance with the Community Safety and Policing Act.” The charges have not been tested in court.

In a statement released late Monday afternoon, Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw said that “it would be inappropriate for me to comment on the specifics of the case” given that criminal charges have been laid. However, the chief also confirmed that Hayles was off duty at the time of the alleged incident.

“I want to be clear: no member of the Toronto Police Service, regardless of rank, is above the law,” Demkiw said. “The public rightly expects our members to maintain the highest standards of conduct, both on and off duty.”

He added: “Any allegation of wrongdoing involving a sworn police officer is taken seriously, and we will always respond swiftly and in accordance with the law.”

Hayles well-liked, respected on force

The 51-year-old is well-known, liked and respected on the job. An profile on Hayles shared by the Association of Black Law Enforcers (A.B.L.E) group on Facebook said “the first-generation Canadian is a proud descendant of Jamaican heritage” whose “maternal grandfather was a member of the Jamaican Constabulary Force, retiring at the rank of Corporal.” The profile said he grew up in the northwest corner of Toronto and “he is familiar with the challenges communities face interacting with police.”

The profile added that “prior to joining the Toronto Police Service he was introduced to A.B.L.E members” who “mentored him and helped him achieve his goal of becoming a police officer,” which he did in 1995 and he “has held every role in each rank and is most proud of his contributions while attached to Intelligence Services combating gun violence and activities with the Community Response Unit in the Downtown East core where he was part of conversations with communities that directly impacted public safety on a grassroots level.”

Community safety was Hayles’ message on New Year’s Eve in 2024 when on X he posted above photos of a RIDE program, “tonight, make the right choice for your New Year’s celebration” and “plan your route home in advance and designate a sober driver” or “use a taxi ride service” and “be alert for RIDE spot-checks.” In an X post a few weeks earlier, Hayles wrote that he “joined our partner from MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) and “educated drivers om the perils of impaired driving.”

Hayles, whose salary is listed on the provincial government’s Sunshine List as $220,350 in 2025, is not the first senior white shirt at Toronto Police to be in trouble in recent years.

Supt. Riyaz Hussein was charged in 2022 with impaired. He pleaded guilty and was later demoted for a year to inspector. That same year, Insp. Joyce Schertzer faced Police Act professional misconduct allegations and was demoted to staff sergeant for nine months, a sentence she is appealing, for an incident involving her nephew who had been in a pickup truck crash on Lake Shore Blvd. In 2024, Supt. Stacy Clarke pleaded guilty to Police Act counts of providing answers to six Black police officers she was mentoring in the 2021 promotions exam — something that saw her demoted to inspector for two years before being allowed to reapply for her old rank. Insp. Chris Boddy, who has since retired, pleaded guilty to impaired driving charges and faced a $3,000 fine and 14-month driving suspension.

Chief Demkiw has ‘zero tolerance’ for criminal cops

Allegations on alcohol violations are not new to senior levels of policing across the province. Just like week, London Police Chief Thai Truong suspended a “senior” officer with pay following allegations of officers with bottles of alcohol and a unregulated service weapon storage claim in a video allegedly taken by former Toronto Police officer Jay Bannister of Mad Lab Press of London, which captured cops going into a van from a Boston Pizza where they rang up a significant bill for alcoholic drinks after attending the funeral of slain Toronto Cop Const. Marc Pinizzotto.

Police officers have traditionally met leniency when before the courts and in discipline — at least until this year’s Project South Toronto Police alleged corruption probe that saw Demkiw not only suspend seven officers without pay but say he has no tolerance for criminal cops.

“Let’s be clear: There is zero tolerance for corruption in the Toronto Police Service, ” Demkiw told John Moore of Newstalk 1010 in May. “We have stood up our police anti-corruption unit, we are expanding our abilities at professional standards, our members wear this uniform with honour and distinction and it’s a privilege to wear this uniform” and if you are a corrupt police officer, I would like you to quit. I would like you to not wear this uniform because you don’t deserve to wear this uniform.”

When the public has to follow the rules, they expect those enforcing them to do so as well.

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