Toronto, October 17, 2005
NRI, (non-resident Indians) Pritpaul Singh Dhanoa
of Vaughan (outskirts of Toronto) was beaten to
death on Saturday night by Italian teen agers, after
being involved in an altercation between two groups
of young people. Mr. Dhanoa, in fact, had fallen out
of a moving vehicle while chasing the rival group
during that altercation. He sustained his fatal head
injuries at that time.
Read More:
Teen dies after brawlIndian, Italian youths clash
in Woodbridge park
By ROB LAMBERTI
Sun, October 16, 2005
York Regional Police forensic officers go over the
scene in Giovanni Caboto Park where Pritpaul "Paul"
Singh Dhanoa was fatally injured. (Dave Thomas/Sun)
WOODBRIDGE -- A 17-year-old honour student died yesterday
following a violent clash in a park, part of a summer-long
dispute sparked by a racial slur.
Pritpaul "Paul" Singh Dhanoa was pronounced
dead at St. Michael's Hospital after suffering severe
head trauma around 11 p.m. Friday.
York Region detectives aren't sure if the Grade 12
Woodbridge College High School student was beaten,
hit by an SUV or stumbled during the melee and banged
his head.
Dhanoa was killed in a violent clash in which Indian
teens are alleged to have attacked Italian teens hanging
out in Giovanni Caboto Park in the Hwy. 7-Pine Valley
Dr. area, possibly to settle a score over a racial
slur hurled at them in August.
The number of teens involved varied widely, between
15 and 50. Witnesses said attackers were armed with
sticks, bottles and gardening tools.
"We were driving by and we saw these guys yelling,
with sticks in their hands," said a teen girl.
"They were picking up a body and putting him
into a car.
"They were saying, 'Call 911.'"
Police said Dhanoa was put in a car and driven to
a nearby mall where a call for an ambulance was made.
Friends of the opposing youths aren't sympathetic
to the victim.
"I have no remorse whatsoever," said a
17-year-old hanging out at Jiffy's Plaza at the corner
of Chancellor and Fiori Drs., across the street from
the park.
"They don't have respect for us," he said,
adding his younger brother had been a victim of previous
attacks. "If I was here, I would have been in
the back of the cruiser. Every Friday for the last
four Fridays, they came here."
"We come here to chill, they came to fight,"
said another teen, who says retaliation is likely
and who now fears the other group will return with
firearms.
"If they come back with guns, their families
are going to die," added another youth.
The dispute reportedly began over a blaring car alarm
during the Aug. 1 long weekend at the small corner
strip mall, according to a number of teens, none of
whom wanted to be named.
A girl who was there said the alarm was accidentally
triggered by one group and another group, apparently
drunk, rudely told them to turn it off. Words were
exchanged and some girls who were there responded
with a racial epithet.
Tempers flared and clashes, both minor and serious,
continued during the summer, the teens said. Police
had stepped up patrols and ticketed teens for trespassing
on mall property.
On Friday, one group of teens stormed the park, attacking
the other.
One teen said his girlfriend was in the park when
the rush of teens swarmed in. "They were going
nuts," he said. "They surrounded my girlfriend.
She's crying."
She managed to escape to the mall to get him, but
he too found himself outnumbered.
Suddenly, police arrived and everybody scattered.
"I saw cop after cop after cop," he said.
"I don't know what happened (to Dhanoa). We were
running away. We were all running, we didn't know
what to do."
Police are looking for an SUV or Jeep-type vehicle
that was seen in the area and that may have been damaged.
