Director's Report Details

Summary of Video Recordings[2]

The security and body-worn camera video recordings provided to the SIU captured the entire sequence of events under investigation. The video recordings from the residence were recorded on cameras mounted in the kitchen, the dining room, and the hallway outside both rooms. There was no audio component on those recordings.

All the police officers involved in the incident were equipped with body-worn cameras, which included an audio component.

At 1:48 p.m., the kitchen camera recorded CW #5 talking to the Complainant at the kitchen door. The Complainant entered the kitchen and appeared to be wiping his eyes. He was wearing a hooded sweatshirt with the hood over his head, obscuring a view of his face. CW #5 pointed towards the door, indicating she wanted the Complainant to exit the kitchen. CW #5 then exited the kitchen followed by the Complainant.

The camera in the dining room recorded CW #5 speaking to the Complainant in the dining room. CW #5 then returned to the kitchen followed by the Complainant.

At 1:53 p.m., CW #5 re-entered the kitchen, while the Complainant stood behind her, rocking from foot to foot. CW #5 poured a cup of coffee for the Complainant and gestured for him to leave the kitchen. The Complainant moved towards the kitchen door, where he stood at the door and spoke to CW #5. CW #5 again gestured towards the kitchen door, and she placed her hand on his right shoulder to encourage him to leave the kitchen. She then turned and resumed her work.

At 1:55 p.m., the Complainant walked to the kitchen counter, picked up a knife and, as CW #5 turned around, pulled the knife in towards his abdomen. CW #5 fled the kitchen.

The Complainant then spoke to CW #4 who was standing at the kitchen door.

At 1:57 p.m., WO #1’s body-worn camera recorded her and the SO approaching the front door of the residence. The SO asked CW #1, “Got a knife on him?” CW #1 confirmed the Complainant had a knife.

At 1:58 p.m., the hallway camera captured CW #1 entering the hallway, followed by the SO and WO #1. CW #4 was standing at the kitchen door speaking to the Complainant.

As the SO and WO #1 walked down the hallway, the SO’s body-worn camera recorded the Complainant telling the SO everything was okay. The SO said to the Complainant, “Let us talk to you,” and then, “Let me see your hands though.” The Complainant asked why he had to show his hands and the SO responded, “Because I can’t have you fooling around with a knife.”

At 1:58 p.m., the kitchen camera recorded CW #1 opening the serving window from the dining room and speaking to the Complainant. The Complainant turned towards the kitchen door and spoke to someone at the door. He waved his hands, as though to suggest he was uncomfortable.

At 1:59 p.m., the SO’s camera documented that he was holding a cannister of OC spray in his left hand as he pushed the kitchen door open. The SO explained to the Complainant that the police could not just leave simply because the Complainant said he was okay, as someone had reported he had stabbed himself. The SO asked the Complainant to display his stomach, and the Complainant denied he had stabbed himself, while slightly pulling his jacket a few inches away from his abdomen and waving his hands as if to suggest there was nothing wrong with his abdomen. The SO told the Complainant, “Listen my friend, this is what’s gonna happen. You either show me or you get arrested. Is that what you want?” The Complainant asked, “Arrested for what?” The SO responded, “Under the Mental Health Act. I might have concerns you are a danger to yourself, so you are to show me your stomach or I promise you’ll be arrested, that’s the bottom line. I can’t just leave; I can’t just leave. What if you hurt yourself?”

The Complainant slowly approached the kitchen door and the SO, holding the OC cannister in his left hand, cautioned, “Don’t keep coming up to me like that or you’re gonna get sprayed. Don’t keep coming up to me like that. I’m gonna spray you with this pepper spray right in the face.” The Complainant backed away to the far end of the kitchen.

WO #1’s camera recorded her reporting over the police radio that all was in order, but they were just checking for any wounds.

The SO asked who it was that called the police and CW #1, who was in the hallway at that point, stated he had done so because the Complainant had been crying. The SO asked why CW #1 would call for an ambulance for someone who was crying. CW #1 explained that the Complainant had been having an emotional breakdown and then CW #5 ran out of the kitchen and said the Complainant had stabbed himself. The SO asked the Complainant if he had stabbed himself, but the Complainant did not reply.

At 2:00 p.m., the SO’s camera recorded him saying to WO #1, “I don’t see any blood or anything. Is he a danger to himself or others? No. I mean he’s ‘EDP’ [emotionally disturbed person].” The SO again asked the Complainant to open his jacket.

The SO further stated to WO #1, “The way I see it, there’s no rush to go in there. If he does run at me, I’ll close the door. I got this (displaying cannister of OC spray). If he charges me or something I could spray.” The SO stated he did not see any weapons but that did not mean the Complainant did not have a weapon.

WO #1’s camera recorded the SO asking her if she was ready and he said that the Complainant had to go to the ground. He said, “We’re gonna be under the Mental Health Act, all right.” WO #1 asked, “Do you want to try to lure him out?”

At 2:01 p.m., WO #1 asked the Complainant for his name, so they could talk. The Complainant became very animated and moved towards the kitchen door. The door was pulled shut by the SO. The SO commented to WO #1, “We’re gonna have to drop him and cuff him.”

The kitchen camera captured the Complainant walking away from the kitchen door, swinging his arms around and sweeping coffee percolators and other items off the kitchen counter. He then slipped and fell onto the floor.

At 2:02 p.m., the kitchen door opened as the Complainant rose to his feet. The SO’s camera recorded the Complainant yelling as he rose from the floor. The Complainant started to move towards the kitchen door and the SO deployed OC spray into his face. The Complainant pulled the hood of his hooded sweatshirt down over his face. He approached the kitchen door and was able to place his left arm through the doorway as the SO attempted to slam the door shut. The Complainant pulled his arm back and the door was pulled closed.

WO #1 asked the SO if he wanted backup and he said that he did. WO #1 reported over her police radio that the Complainant had barricaded himself and could be armed, given that he was in the kitchen and had access to knives.

The Complainant walked away from the kitchen door and slipped and fell onto his back. He sat on the floor and clapped his hands. The SO’s camera recorded the Complainant saying what sounded to be “Jesus” three times. At 2:03 p.m., the Complainant stood again.

The SO asked WO #1 to look through the serving window to see whether the Complainant was harming himself. WO #1 misunderstood and exited the building to look through the exterior kitchen window. The camera worn by WO #1 recorded the exterior kitchen window being frosted - she was unable to see into the interior of the kitchen. Her camera recorded her knocking on the kitchen window.

The SO stated, “All right, for the purpose of this camera here, I’ve had to pepper spray this person, right. It was assaultive behaviour, he was running at me there, and also in an effort to incapacitate him so he’s unable to hurt himself. I’ve obviously closed this door. I don’t want him charging at me with a knife.” On the SO’s camera, the Complainant could be heard singing “Jesus” three times.

At 2:04 p.m., the SO’s camera recorded WO #1 knocking on the exterior kitchen window. The Complainant could then be heard yelling out as though in pain.

At 2:04 p.m., the kitchen camera recorded the Complainant standing and using his right hand to pick up a knife from the kitchen counter (believed to be the knife he had held earlier). He stabbed the knife towards, or into, the right side of his neck four times. He then twice stabbed the knife into the left side of his neck. On the second stab, he brought his left hand up to the end of the knife and appeared to be pushing the knife into his neck. He proceeded to pace around the kitchen with the knife protruding from the left side of his neck.

At 2:04:59 p.m., the Complainant picked up a large knife from the counter, lifted his clothing, and plunged the knife into his abdomen. He released the knife and it remained protruding from his abdomen. He then pulled the knife from his abdomen and dropped it onto the kitchen floor. The knife in his neck remained in place.

WO #1 returned to the hallway and, at 2:05 p.m., the SO’s camera recorded him asking WO #1 to look through the serving window to see if the Complainant was harming himself. WO #1 reported, “He looks okay so far.”

The SO stated to his camera, “Just for the purposes of the camera, I don’t feel like jumping in there and getting stabbed, or us having to do something extra.”

At 2:05 p.m., the kitchen camera recorded the Complainant retrieving a can of soda from the kitchen windowsill, opening it, and spraying the beverage into his face. He dropped the can to the floor and repeated the actions with a second can of soda. It was unclear whether he was trying to drink the beverage or use it to rinse OC spray from his face.

The SO’s camera recorded him asking over the police radio whether WO #2 was on the air. The SO then asked WO #1 to take control of the kitchen door, as his radio was not on the proper channel. There followed a crashing sound from the kitchen, and WO #1 commented that the Complainant might be exiting the kitchen. The hallway camera recorded WO #1 taking over holding the kitchen door closed, while the SO moved to the dining room door.

The kitchen camera recorded the Complainant climbing onto the kitchen serving counter and climbing through the serving window into the dining room. The camera in the dining room recorded the Complainant falling to the floor of the dining room. When he stood up, the knife that had been protruding from his neck fell to the floor and his foot knocked it across the floor. The only other person in the dining room at that point was CW #2, who was sitting at the computer in the dining room.

The Complainant approached CW #2, took him gently by the right arm and guided him towards the dining room door. He appeared to be using CW #2 as a shield.

At 2:06 p.m., the SO’s camera recorded CW #2 and the Complainant walking around the edge of the open dining room door with CW #2 in front of the Complainant. The Complainant was saying, “Help me.” The SO told the Complainant, “Guy, back off, seriously.” The SO then pushed on CW #2 to force him and the Complainant backwards. The Complainant released CW #2. The SO told the Complainant, “Guy, get back, do it now!” while pointing his OC cannister at the Complainant. CW #2 then exited the dining room while the Complainant walked over to the computer and sat behind the large monitor.

At 2:06 p.m., the SO extended his baton and knocked away a block of wood that had been placed in the dining room door to keep the door open. He then re-holstered his baton.

The SO stepped around the edge of the open dining room door and pointed his OC cannister, in his left hand, towards the Complainant. The Complainant pulled the computer monitor closer to him, as though using it as a shield. The SO said to the Complainant, “Guy, seriously, get on the ground. Get on the ground, you’re gonna get sprayed again.”

At 2:07 p.m., the SO dragged a nearby table over to where it would serve as a barrier between himself and the Complainant. The Complainant then grabbed onto the computer monitor and he drove his head into it, shattering the monitor.

The SO’s camera recorded him saying to WO #1, “Wait for the boys to show up and we’ll go grab him. It’s all good, no rush.”

The Complainant stood and the SO again pointed his OC spray at him. The SO’s camera recorded the SO saying, “Don’t come at me sir, it’s assaultive behaviour, I’m gonna spray you again.” The Complainant made repeated stomping motions with his right foot, appearing to be very agitated, and he was chanting something or singing song lyrics. The SO told him to calm down, and the Complainant sat behind the computer monitor again.

At 2:07 p.m., WO #2 arrived at the dining room door.

The SO told WO #2, “He could have knives and all the rest of it, right, so it’s gonna be, I think, it’s gonna be a scrap. He’s pretty big.” The SO then told WO #2, “We gotta cuff him right away, he could be armed with a knife.”

At 2:08 p.m., the Complainant stood, walked over to the television mounted on the wall nearby, and punched the television. He twice yelled, “Don’t hurt my people.” The SO told WO #2, “I’m gonna spray him again, that’s assaultive behaviour.”

At 2:08 p.m., WO #4, armed with a less-lethal shotgun, entered the dining room.

WO #2 asked the Complainant to raise his hands and demonstrated what he wanted the Complainant to do. He also demonstrated that he wanted the Complainant to turn around. The Complainant complied with both directions.

WO #2 and the SO then approached the Complainant and handcuffed him without further incident. At 2:09 p.m., the Complainant was escorted out of the dining room.

At 2:10 p.m., the Complainant was searched outside. Two glass smoking pipes were recovered from his right front pants pocket.

At 2:12 p.m., the SO’s camera recorded paramedics lifting the Complainant’s shirt and reporting the Complainant had a puncture wound to his abdomen and that he had something under his neck.

WO #1’s camera recorded CW #1 telling her that the night before, the Complainant had damaged the television of another resident, although the Complainant claimed he had fallen into the television. CW #1 reported that the Complainant suffered from schizophrenia and had returned from CAMH three days prior.

At 2:13 p.m., the dining room camera recorded a resident entering the dining room, picking a knife up from the floor and placing it onto the ledge of the serving window.

Materials Obtained from Police Service

Upon request, the SIU received the following materials from TPS between January 18 and 28, 2022:

• Video recordings obtained by TPS from the residence;
• Body-worn camera video recordings from responding police officers;
• Computer-aided Dispatch Event Details Report;
• Communications recordings;
• A list of civilian witnesses and a copy of on-camera statements obtained from them;
• Involved Officer List;
• Notes of all designated Witness Officials; and
• A list of police occurrences for the Complainant.