from CityNews.ca

A man accused of impersonating a police officer has been released on $500 bail.

Charlie Veitch, 29, lives in England but was in Toronto for the G20 summit.  He’s been described as an absurdist comedian – but police aren’t laughing.

“He was filming the fence area – again, these are allegations – he was filming the fence area and a security officer approached him and asked him for identification,” Const. Tony Vella said on Wednesday.

“The allegations are that Mr. Veitch indicated to the security guard that he was an undercover police officer. Mr. Veitch taped the entire incident and posted it on social media.  A copy was retrieved by the Toronto Police Service who conducted an investigation.

“A warrant was issued for Mr. Veitch’s arrest for impersonating a police officer. He was arrested on Tuesday as he was boarding a plane to go back to England,” Vella said.

“Anytime someone poses as a police officer, we take it very seriously,”  he added.

Veitch spoke to reporters when he was released on Wednesday.

“Of my six days in Toronto, I’ve spend 48 hours in custody,” he said.

“I’m scared to say anything until I’m actually at home in Great Britain…I come from a country where you can actually hug police officers,” Veitch added.

Veitch will next appear in court on August 23.