SIU clears police in shooting death

Ontario’s police watchdog said no charges would be laid after a man was fatally shot by police near a TD Bank in Scarborough in April.

The man was armed with a machete, the Special Investigations Unit said Friday, and would not put it down when told to do so.

Instead, he continued to walk toward the four Toronto police officers. At one point, the SIU said, he even raised the blade above his head.

Two officers shot at the man. The cause of death was a gunshot wound to the torso.

All of this happened in front of the plaza at Eglinton Avenue near Kennedy Road just before 1 p.m. on April 26.

“In my view, this use of lethal force by the subject officers was justified,” SIU director Ian Scott said in a statement Friday.

“The man represented a serious and imminent threat to both the subject officers and the two witness officers as he approached them with a machete which he refused to drop.

“As the distance closed in between the involved officers and the man brandishing this weapon, I am of the view that the subject officers had a reasonable apprehension of imminent death or bodily harm to both themselves and the other involved officers in circumstances where there was no reasonable alternative but to use lethal force.”

Both officers were investigated and seven other officers were interviewed. The SIU also spoke to 12 civilian witnesses.

The agency assigned five investigators and three forensic investigators to probe the circumstances of this incident.

The SIU is an arm’s length agency which investigates cases involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.

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