TORONTO -- Lawyers for the Ontario government want a Toronto police officer tried on a manslaughter charge after he was cleared of a rare murder charge.
Const. David Cavanagh had been charged with second-degree murder in the death of 26-year-old Eric Osawe in 2010.
At the end of a preliminary inquiry last month, a judge decided there was insufficient evidence to commit Cavanagh to trial and dismissed the charge.
But now the Crown has filed an application with the Ontario Superior Court, asking it to overturn that decision and instead send Cavanagh to trial on a manslaughter charge.
The Emergency Task Force and guns and gangs unit were searching an apartment in Toronto's west end on Sept. 29, 2010 and the province's Special Investigations Unit alleged that's when Cavanagh shot Osawe.
Cavanagh was originally charged with manslaughter but that was upgraded to the murder charge at a court appearance in February 2012.
The police union said at the time it was the first instance in the force's history of an officer being charged with murder for an on-the-job incident.
The Ontario Crown application is set to be heard on April 22.
