Toronto cop was defending herself when she shot man holding knife: SIU

Toronto police are on the scene of a shooting near Carlton and Parliament Streets on Tuesday, July 23, 2024. (CP24)

The province’s police watchdog has cleared a Toronto police officer who shot a 32-year-old man holding a knife in Cabbagetown in July, finding that she did so to defend herself “from a reasonably apprehended attack.”

On Wednesday, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) released its findings into the shooting that occurred on the evening of July 23 in the area of Carlton and Parliament streets.

“On my assessment of the evidence, there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the (officer) committed a criminal offence in connection with the shooting,” SIU Director Joseph Martino wrote in the report.

Based on the evidence collected, the SIU detailed in the report what occurred that summer evening, which began when police received a call from a female passerby reporting that a male in the area was bleeding.

The SIU said the man, named the Complainant in the report, “was of unsound mind at the time,” and had cut himself with a knife. He then asked passersby for help.

Two officers, including the subject official (SO), responded. After parking their cruiser, the officers walked towards the man.

“The Complainant was sitting on a step of the front stoop of a building, a knife by his side. As the officers approached his location on foot, the Complainant took possession of the knife and rose to his feet,” the SIU said.

That prompted the SO to draw her firearm, and the other officer her conducted energy weapon (CEW) as they ordered the man to drop the knife.

 

The SIU said the Complainant began to advance on the officers while holding the knife in front of him, which forced the officers to retreat towards their cruiser.

“When the Complainant started to run in the direction of the SO, at a distance of about eight to 10 metres from the officer, she fired her weapon two to four times,” the SIU said, adding the other officer also discharged her CEW.

“It is unclear whether either weapon struck the Complainant, who continued his advance on the SO. The officer fired an additional three times, striking and felling the Complainant onto the roadway.”

The officers then moved in and handcuffed the man. They then applied first-aid before transferring him to paramedics, who took him to the hospital.

The SIU said the man was struck once in the left arm and in the lower right abdomen, and later recovered from his injuries.

In the report, SIU Director Martino wrote he was satisfied that the officer fired her gun with the intention of defending herself from a “reasonably apprehended attack.”

“Though the officer, as was her legal right, did not provide that evidence firsthand to the SIU, the circumstances surrounding the shooting naturally give rise to the inference. Simply put, the Complainant was approaching the SO with a knife in hand in a fashion that could only be described as threatening,” he wrote.

Martino added that he was satisfied the officer used reasonable force in the incident.

“The officer had tried to deter his advance with verbal direction while retreating to give her more time and space to work with. A complete withdrawal from the scene was not a viable option given the presence of civilians in the area,” the director said.

He noted that resorting to lesser force was not necessarily a better recourse, given the ineffectiveness of the other officer’s CEW.

“What was required in the split seconds that the SO had to defend herself was the stopping power of firearm,” Martino said.

“On this record, the first two shots the officer fired were commensurate with the exigencies of the situation. When that failed to deter the Complainant, the officer was within her rights in firing a second volley of shots for precisely the same reasons.”

He concluded that there was no basis to charge the officer in connection with the shooting, and closed the file.