ETF Takes Down Suspect In Mall Parking Lot
Posted August 15, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It seemed like a simple routine investigation. But as one member of Toronto’s finest discovered on Wednesday, it was anything but. When an undercover officer on duty in the Danforth and Victoria Park Ave. area spotted a man and a woman carrying some power tools on Denton Ave., something didn’t seem right. So he went to question them. And that’s when this case went from a normal interrogation to a battle of life and death.
Cops allege the man suddenly lunged for the cop’s gun and was able to actually fire off a shot. Fortunately it hit the ground, and the suspect took off on foot. The stunned officer called in reinforcements, including the K-9 unit and the Emergency Task Force. It didn’t take long for the latter to trace the running man to the Shopper’s World parking lot on Danforth Ave, where they pounced, conducted a regulation takedown and took the man into custody.
Witnesses were shocked as a scene right out of a movie swirled around them. “I don’t know,” puzzles Mario Palermo about what he saw. “A big shot, a big shot and then I don’t see nothing.”
Police are grateful no one was hurt in the altercation and that the officer escaped with his life. They note it’s a perfect example of how something so innocent can turn so bad so fast.
“The officer wasn’t just struggling for his gun – he was struggling for his life,” avers Duty Inspector Greg McLane. “If you’re looking at a property related offence, one doesn’t reasonably expect that this would work itself into a guy trying to disarm a police officer. Times have changed … This is the kind of thing that our officers deal with on a daily basis.”
Police will only say the man in custody is well known to them. He’ll be in court later this week.
