The province’s police watchdog is investigating the death of a man in his 30s after an interaction with police in the Stockyards District on Friday.
Toronto police said officers were called to an area near Alentejo Street south of Braga Gardens, west of Old Weston Road shortly after 12 p.m. for reports of a man armed with two knives. Police said the man was apparently screaming and waving the weapons.
"He was flailing his arms with two very large knives," Jean Touchmore, who lives in the neighbourhood, told CP24. She said she witnessed one of her neighbours leave her home and run into the man.
"He threatened her, so she ran," Touchmore said.
According to SIU spokesperson Jason Gennaro, officers confronted the man near Sagres Crescent.
"The police officer then discharged a conductive energy weapon. The man then went into medical distress and he was rushed to hospital where he later died," Gennaro told reporters from the scene on Friday.
The SIU is an arm’s-length agency that investigates incidents involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.
