News Release
SIU Discontinues Investigation into Falling Death of Man in Toronto
Case Number: 19-TCD-103
Other News Releases Related to Case 19-TCD-103
SIU Investigating Man’s Fatal Fall From 14th Floor of Toronto Apartment Building
The Interim Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has terminated an investigation the May 2019 death of a 61-year-old man in Toronto.
At 11:02 a.m. on May 9, 2019, the man called 911 and told police he was planning to commit suicide by jumping from his apartment unit located in a building on Yonge Street. The man then proceeded to break a glass window with a hammer and he sat on its sill. Toronto Police Service (TPS) officers arrived at the scene at approximately 11:12 a.m. Two TPS officers made their way to the man’s unit where they found the door to be locked. The officers knocked on the door but received no response. At 11:17 a.m., with the officers still outside the locked front door of the apartment, the man jumped from the window landing on the sidewalk below. He was declared deceased at the scene by paramedics.
The cause of the man’s death was determined at autopsy to be blunt force injuries consistent with a descent from a height.
Interim Director Martino said, “It is apparent based on the aforementioned record that neither of the officers who attended the man’s apartment and were present outside the front door contributed to his self-inflicted death in any manner that could conceivably attract criminal sanction. They were at all times outside the apartment in the few minutes between their arrival on scene and the man’s final act of jumping from his window. Accordingly, as there is patently nothing to investigate as far as any potential criminal liability on the part of the officers is concerned, the investigation is hereby discontinued and the file closed.”
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