After a day out with your child, you just want to sit down and relax. But this dad was faced with a police interrogation at the end of a long day recently.
Ready to go home after a long day, the pair boarded a bus at Victoria Park transit station in the city's east end. But just a few blocks into the ride, the driver stopped the bus and said they'd have to pull over and wait.
As other buses started to pass them by, Jason asked the bus driver what the delay was, and if he could just get off and walk. The driver replied that nobody could leave.
That's when two police officers arrived on the scene. One stood at the back doors while the other got on and headed straight for Jason.
"He walks right up to me and says, 'Is this your son?'"
Jason said that Xavier was indeed his boy, but the officer wasn't content with that, and asked to talk to him outside.
The officer explained that they “got a call that something was ‘off’ and ‘the father doesn’t look like the son.’” That’s when Jason realised what was going on.
Jason, who is part Jamaican, has albinism, as does his Indian wife. Their son does not have albinism and has darker skin than his parents.
The officers were both apologetic, according to Jason, saying they had to investigate because of the call but knew nothing was amiss.
They ended up driving father and son home — even turning on the siren for Xavier — and commiserating over how anyone in 2016, in a city like Toronto, could call in such a complaint.
