SIU finds no wrongdoing by officer in East York shooting death

The province’s Special Investigations Unit has concluded that there were no reasonable grounds to charge a Toronto police officer with a criminal offence in last month’s shooting death of Michael Eligon.

“In my view, the subject officer was justified in using lethal force against Mr. Eligon,” director Ian Scott said in a release Monday. “On the basis of the information he had received through radio transmissions immediately before the incident and his observations, he could reasonably conclude that Mr. Eligon was an armed and dangerous individual who was non-compliant with police demands.”

Eligon, 29, was shot at three times by the subject officer on Feb. 3. One of the bullets hit him in the right clavicle area at a distance of about eight to 10 feet. He was taken to St. Michael’s Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The SIU said that Eligon had left the Toronto East General Hospital earlier that morning wearing a hospital gown, a toque and a pair of socks. He had been involuntarily admitted to the hospital under the Mental Health Act and was under observation.

He went to a nearby convenience store where he picked up two pairs of scissors and got into a confrontation with the owner when he tried to leave without paying for them. He nicked the owner with the scissors when he left. That incident was reported to police.

Eligon then demanded car keys from women in two separate incidents, one of which was reported to police. The calls led to 12 officers in six cruisers to be dispatched to Milverton Boulevard in East York. 

Eligon, who was clutching a pair of scissors in each hand when he was shot, appeared to be agitated and was believed to have a mental disorder. He was ordered by the subject officer to drop the weapons or he would be shot.

During the investigation, the officer was asked about other options, such as pepper spray or an asp baton. He said that it would not have been effective to use pepper spray at that distance and that he wasn’t in a position to use his baton because it would have required him to get closer to the armed man.

The SIU assigned seven investigators and three forensic investigators to probe the circumstances of the shooting.

The arm’s length agency is called into investigate in cases involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.

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