A Toronto police officer was delivering an ambulance to El Salvador and blogging about the experience during the investigation that led to him being charged with assaulting a G20 protester.

Const. Babak Andalib-Goortani “did an amazing job” as navigator for Father Hernan Astudillo’s Caravan of Hope, Astudillo told the Star.

Andalib-Goortani made a three-week trek with Astudillo and 17 other people to deliver the decommissioned ambulance to a small community in Central America.

Astudillo said Andalib-Goortani — whom he knows as “Bobby” — always talked about road safety as the group travelled through the U.S. and Mexico.

“In terms of the technical issues, he was excellent,” Astudillo said, “and also in terms of the human issues.”

Astudillo recalled how Andalib-Goortani would buy food and share it with the entire group at dinner. During these nightly rest times, people in the caravan would play guitar and the constable would sing and dance to the music, said Astudillo.

“He is a very dynamic person, very joyful — he is a special person,” Astudillo added. “He touched hearts of other people.”

Andalib-Goortani kept a blog during the adventure, where he detailed the trip and expressed delight at the people he met along the way.

He also wrote about his frustration at the border crossing into Mexico, where some officials asked his group to pay additional fees and have their vehicles fumigated.

“I am at this point aggrivated [sic] beyond return, despite my fellow ambulance mate’s attempts to get me to look beyond the corruption and more about the big picture,” he wrote in an entry on Nov. 5.

Astudillo also mentioned that he shared a human moment with Andalib-Goortani when he spoke about how he identified with the poor communities in Mexico, saying they reminded him of his Middle Eastern home.

He also told Astudillo that he found the Caravan of Hope such an enriching experience that he was going to encourage his fellow officers to participate in the next one.

Andalib-Goortani, who works in 31 Division’s traffic unit, is the first officer to be charged with allegedly assaulting a G20 protester.

The province’s police watchdog says Andalib-Goortani can be seen in a video jabbing protester Adam Nobody with a baton during an arrest at Queen’s Park.

Astudillo said Andalib-Goortani never mentioned the events of the G20 during their mission. He also hasn’t spoken to the constable since the charges were laid, adding he wants to wait until they can talk “face to face.”

“I don’t want to judge with the prejudice,” said Astudillo. “The best thing is to go and speak with a person, to see their eyes, to listen to them.”

With files from Gloria Er-Chua

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