TTC CEO Andy Byford is defending the transit system’s enforcement unit even after asking Toronto police to investigate an incident in which two uniformed TTC officers repeatedly punched two men at Union Station after a hockey game.

The transit enforcement officers have been placed on desk duty pending the outcome of the investigation. The two hockey fans are facing criminal charges.

The Jan. 29 incident, caught on video, shows a crowd watching as one officer punches a man, who is kneeling on the floor with his head down. Another officer rushes to the scene and repeatedly slams his fist in the face of another man standing against a wall. A TTC collector repeatedly tries to keep the two apart.

Byford said he only became aware of the disturbing video Tuesday, when the scenes, circulating on social media, were published on the Toronto Star website. The TTC’s enforcement unit had reviewed closed circuit TV footage and the officers’ reports on the fight weeks earlier.

The video, which Premier Kathleen Wynne called “very violent and frightening,” has sparked questions about the role and the oversight of transit cops.

While Byford receives a daily summary of incidents from the transit enforcement unit, he told the Star he doesn’t remember the Jan. 29 report. But, having reviewed the CCTV footage, Byford said the video doesn’t tell the complete story.

The TTC has said that there was no fare dispute involved and that the incident began after a transit officer was assaulted.

There have been no public complaints and two men have been charged by Toronto police in connection with the event.

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In hindsight, Byford said, the incident report should have gone further up the TTC’s management ladder but, “It is a bit of a judgment call.”

“Because the assailants were arrested, because the reports had been filed, they took the view that there was no further follow-up required,” he said.

“I will be asking, was the decision to take no further action internally, was that the right decision?”

The video surfaced about three months after the Toronto Police Services Board restored the TTC’s special constable status, which gives officers broader powers of arrest. It had been removed in 2010 after transit police were found to be overstepping their authority.

One of the officers on the video, the one seen punching the man on the floor, has since been sworn in as a special constable. The other officer is still waiting to be sworn in.

Special constables can make an arrest based on reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed. Transit enforcement officers have only the equivalent of a citizen’s power of arrest — they must personally witness the crime to detain someone. Both carry handcuffs and batons. But special constables also carry pepper foam.

Byford refused to speculate on circumstances in which TTC officers might be justified in punching people.

There were five reports last year of TTC officers using force. TTC officers made 449 arrests and issued 4,336 tickets last year.

The TTC’s squad of 40 special constables and transit enforcement officers get 54 days of training in police procedures, including eight days on de-escalation techniques and communications. Both groups carry handcuffs and batons. Special constables also carry pepper foam and receive additional training on its use and grounds for arrest.

Two Toronto men, a father and son, have been charged with assault and uttering threats in connection to the scuffle.

Jamie Gillman, 33, faces two counts of assault and Russell Gillman, 63, one charge of assault.

Reached at home, Russell Gillman told the Star he could not speak about the incident or the charges. Asked to comment on the public outcry about the video, Gillman said: “I appreciate that very much. But my job at this point is to do what my lawyer’s advising me to do.”

The family has Toronto Maple Leafs season tickets, according to a family member reached by the Star, who described both men as “not aggressive at all.”

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Bruce Daley, Jamie Gillman’s lawyer, said his client will be “vigorously contesting” the charges, and that no conclusions should be drawn from the fact that no complaint has been laid to date — “clearly, my client has complaints.”

Daley said the video speaks for itself in depicting the actions of “the burly officer who looks like he’s, quite frankly, in a mixed martial arts octagon, the way he’s throwing those overhand rights.”

“I can’t envision any responsible professional law enforcement person sanctioning those particular actions, those right hand blows. I see nothing that could justify that,” said the lawyer.

Both men sought medical attention after the fight. Neither was hospitalized, but both were psychologically and physically harmed, said Daley.

Lisa White, Russell Gillman’s lawyer, said there will be a joint defence when the pair appear in court later this month.

“It’s my position that my client has done nothing to warrant criminal charges,” White said. “I think this definitely needs to be dealt with in the courts, and the evidence will come out in that fashion.”

On Jan. 30, a day after the brawl, Jamie’s wife, Kailee, tweeted that she was looking for video or witnesses to the fight. “Can you please message me?” she wrote. “If you come across anything and can send it my way that would be great. We need to find videos/witnesses.”

A woman who says she witnessed the fight told the Star that the video doesn’t show two men repeatedly punching one lone officer in the face.

“I clearly saw these two attack him repeatedly,” said Lana McKenzie.

“I’m amazed he managed to fend them off,” she said, adding that Union Station needs more police presence after hockey games.

Councillor Gord Perks (open Gord Perks's policard) said the incident on the video is exactly what he feared when he asked the TTC in January to consider taking handcuffs and batons away from another arm of the transit enforcement division: fare inspectors, who check for proof-of-payment on streetcars. But he said it would have been worse had the incident involved fare inspectors, because complaints against them don’t go to Toronto police but are handled by the city’s ombudsman.

Only special constable complaints are automatically investigated by Toronto police, so the TTC's request to have an incident involving transit enforcement officers investigated is exceptional.

TTC chair councillor Josh Colle (open Josh Colle's policard), who called the incident “very disturbing,” said the video could trigger a review of TTC enforcement programs.

“I certainly expect we’ll be discussing and analyzing that whole program because of this incident. Whether that’s fair or not, who’s to say, but these are the kinds of things that force us as a board ... to have that look at any of these programs we run, and that would extend to any incident across our system.”

While the incident is disturbing, Mayor John Tory (open John Tory's policard) said, he would be more concerned if there was evidence of a cover-up, something he doesn’t see.

“There are quite a few instances on the TTC every year involving these constables that happen largely without any sort of notice taken by the rest of us. They just do their job, so I wouldn’t see any particular impetus at the moment to undertake some big reform,” he said.