News Release

News Release

SIU Concludes Investigation in Shooting Death in Scarborough

Case Number: 13-TFD-108   

Mississauga (19 July, 2013) --- The Director of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Ian Scott, has concluded that there are no reasonable grounds to charge two  Toronto Police Service (TPS) officers with any criminal offence in regards to the shooting death of a 45-year-old man in April of this year.

The SIU assigned five investigators and three forensic investigators to probe the circumstances of this incident. As part of the investigation, seven witness officers and 12 civilian witnesses were interviewed. Two subject officers were also designated; both officers consented to be interviewed and provided a copy of their notes.

The SIU investigation found that the following events took place on Friday, April 26:
• In the early afternoon, multiple officers were dispatched to 2428 Eglinton Ave East in response to a male reportedly armed with a machete. 
• The subject officers, along with two other witness officers, were the first to arrive and saw the man walking eastbound along Eglinton Ave East, near Kennedy Rd. 
• One of the subject officers saw the man walking eastbound through the crosswalk on the south side of Eglinton Ave East.  He exited his cruiser and tried to get the man’s attention while following him along the south sidewalk of Eglinton Ave East.
• At the same time, the second subject officer exited her cruiser.  The two subject officers were also joined by two witness officers.
• The man stopped walking, took off his jacket, turned around, reached into his waistband, and produced a sheathed machete.  He removed the sheath from the machete, and started advancing toward the four officers. 
• The involved officers began backing up and yelling at the man to drop his knife.
• In the vicinity were citizens walking on the sidewalk and behind the officers was a flow of traffic on Eglinton Ave East.
• The man was holding the knife in his left hand with the blade upward and facing toward the two subject officers.  All officers drew their handguns and pointed them at the man.
• The man continued to close the distance between himself and the officers with the machete in his hand, and was not responding to their repeated commands to “drop the knife”. 
• At one point, the man raised the machete above his head.
• When the distance between the officers and the man was reduced to approximately two metres, both subject officers discharged their firearms.
• The man fell to the ground and the involved officers approached him and handcuffed his wrists behind his back because he was still conscious and resisting.
• Shortly after, he lapsed into unconsciousness and an officer performed CPR until paramedics arrived. 
• The man was transported to Sunnybrook Hospital where he was pronounced deceased.
• A post-mortem examination determined the cause of death to be gunshot wounds to the torso.

Director Scott said, “In my view, this use of lethal force by the subject officers was justified.  The man represented a serious and imminent threat to both the subject officers and the two witness officers as he approached them with a machete which he refused to drop.  As the distance closed in between the involved officers and the man brandishing this weapon, I am of the view that the subject officers had a reasonable apprehension of imminent death or bodily harm to both themselves and the other involved officers in circumstances where there was no reasonable alternative but to use lethal force.”

 

The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates the conduct of officials (police officers as well as special constables with the Niagara Parks Commission and peace officers with the Legislative Protective Service) that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and/or the discharge of a firearm at a person. All investigations are conducted by SIU investigators who are civilians. Under the Special Investigations Unit Act, the Director of the SIU must

• consider whether the official has committed a criminal offence in connection with the incident under investigation
• depending on the evidence, cause a criminal charge to be laid against the official where grounds exist for doing so, or close the file without any charges being laid
• publicly report the results of its investigations