Forcillo 9th Toronto cop to face murder or manslaughter
Posted August 19, 2013 5:13 pm.
Last Updated January 21, 2016 2:19 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Nine Toronto police officers have faced manslaughter, second-degree murder or impaired driving causing death, but only one was convicted, according to Ontario’s police watchdog.
Const. James Forcillo is the latest Toronto police force member to face a second-degree murder charge in last month’s TTC shooting death of 18-year-old Sammy Yatim.
Of the previous eight officers who were charged, only one officer was convicted and that was for impaired driving causing death, the Special Investigations Unit said in an email to CityNews on Monday.
The others were acquitted, including four Toronto constables: Filippo Bevilacqua, Phil Duncan, Nam Le and Rob Lemaître, who each faced manslaughter in the death of Otto Vass, 55, following a confrontation outside a west-end 7-Eleven in August 2000. They were acquitted by a jury in 2003.
Const. David Cavanagh was charged with manslaughter and second-degree murder in the Sept. 29, 2010, shooting death of Eric Osawe. His case is still before the court but the murder charge was dropped earlier this year.
Forcillo is the 11th cop in Ontario to be charged with second-degree murder or manslaughter since the inception in 1990 of the SIU, which looks into deaths, injuries or allegations of sexual assault involving police.
With files from The Canadian Press
