News Release
No Basis to Proceed with Charges Against Toronto Officer who Shot Man Armed with Hatchet
Case Number: 20-TFI-336
Other News Releases Related to Case 20-TFI-336
SIU Investigating After Police Officer Shoots Man in Etobicoke
In the afternoon of December 3, 2020, multiple 911 calls began to be received by the Toronto Police Service reporting a man’s strange and threatening behavior. Officers were dispatched the area of Lake Shore Boulevard West and Twenty Fourth Street. An officer observed a man walking toward him with a hatchet. The officer yelled at the man to drop the hatchet, and the man did so. However, the man retrieved the hatchet and advanced toward the officer. When the man refused to drop the hatchet, the officer fired his rifle at the man. The 30-year-old man was struck and transported to hospital for treatment. The Director of the Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, has determined there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the shooting.
Full Director’s Report (with Incident Narrative, Evidence, and Analysis & Director’s Decision):https://www.siu.on.ca/en/directors_reports.php.
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