A man who says he was the victim of police brutality during a 2015 arrest has spoken out about the beating and groping he says he endured, one day after the officer involved was charged with assault by the province's police watchdog.

The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) charged the officer on Wednesday in connection with a November 30, 2015, arrest in North York that injured the man, who does not wish to be identified.

An SIU investigation was launched on Oct. 31, 2016.

The man, who was 23 at the time of the incident, spoke to reporters on Thursday at the African Canadian Legal Clinic (ACLC) in Toronto.

He said that on November 30, 2015, he had hopped into a taxi after visiting a friend when he was approached by officers asking for his ID, which he said he did not have on him at the time. He said the officer told him they were looking into a report of gunfire.

He then claims the officer pulled him out of the taxi, beat him, searched him and groped him before putting him in a police cruiser. He said he was released when his mother came to the scene with his ID and that he was never charged.

He said he went to a hospital and a doctor said he suffered a concussion.

ACLC staff lawyer Lavinia Latham, who is representing the man, called the assault charge "a positive development."

"My client was brutalized with a continuous onslaught of punches, kicks and even sexual misconduct at the hands of the TPS," Latham said in a statement.

The statement also put a call to other possible victims of the officer to contact the ACLC.

The man said in his summary of the event that he suffers from panic attacks and recurring nightmares.

"Every time I see a TPS Officer or police cruiser, my heart rate quickens and I begin to feel extremely frightened for my safety," he said.

The officer is scheduled to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice on September 7.