TORONTO -- The province’s police watchdog continues to investigate after investigators say a 28-year-old man was struck by a police cruiser while fleeing from officers in Toronto’s downtown core on Sunday night.
In a news release issued on Monday morning, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said Toronto police were called to the area of King and Bathurst streets at around 6:40 p.m. for reports of a robbery.
The SIU said officers quickly located a person of interest, who was in possession of a knife.
The man fled southbound on Bathurst Street on foot and was pursued by the responding officers.
According to the SIU, the officers caught up with the man at Front and Bathurst streets and attempted to subdue him using a conducted energy weapon.
The man, the SIU said, continued to flee and a short time later, the man was struck by a police cruiser.
He was taken into custody and then transported to hospital, where medical staff determined that he had sustained serious injuries.
The incident was captured on camera by multiple residents in the area, who posted the videos on social media on Sunday night.
One woman, who watched the incident unfold on the balcony of her third-floor condo at Bathurst and Front streets, called the altercation “scary.”
“The police officer hit him with the front of his vehicle, and then ran him over with his front tire. And that’s when he finally went down and the weapon he was holding, which was a huge knife, went flying,” she said. “It was really disturbing.”
Investigators are urging anyone with video of the incident to upload it to the SIU’s website.
The SIU, an arm’s length agency that is called in to investigate any incident involving police and a member of the public that results in death, serious injury, or an allegation of sexual assault, has assigned one investigator, two forensic officers, and one collision reconstructionist to the case.
