OIPRD complaint filed in fatal police shooting of Jamal Francique

Two years after his death, the family lawyer of 28-year-old Jamal Francique says they have filed a complaint with the Officer of the Independent Police Review Director, hoping to find the accountability they’ve been searching for since Francique was shot by a Peel police officer.

Francique was shot in the head on Jan. 7, 2020 and died a few days later in hospital. The Director of the SIU cleared the involved officer of any charges related to the shooting just over a year later on Jan. 20, 2021.

The OIPRD is an independent civilian oversight agency that handles public complaints regarding police conduct.

Knia Singh with Ma’at Legal Services penned an 46-page Comprehensive Legal Inquiry (CLI) asking for the investigation to be reopened and sent it to the Attorney General and the Special Investigations Unit last May, but their request was denied.

The office of Attorney General Doug Downey told CityNews in a statement while they are the ministry whom the SIU is held accountable, it is the “sole discretion” of the director of the SIU “to decide whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that a criminal offence has been committed and to cause charges to be laid and renders his decisions without interference from the public, the police or the government.”

His office added he cannot comment on, or become involved in, any aspect of a SIU investigation, including decisions to lay charges.

Singh said this is part of the problem. “The SIU is not subject to any accountability or transparency mechanism, which is a major flaw in its creation and must be remedied,” read part of their CLI.

“We’re hoping that public pressure will force the current provincial government to recognize that accountability is one of the major things that the public wants when it comes to police interactions that end up in death or violence,” Singh told CityNews.

“I beg for … the highest of the high to take a look at my son’s case. Look at the SIU investigation and look at the comprehensive legal inquiry and see the inconsistencies. And please, I beg of you to give my son a fair chance in court to be heard,” pleaded Francique’s father Derek.

The SIU has stated that they are not in a position to reopen the investigation.

Alleged inconsistencies in SIU investigation

Singh said their Comprehensive Legal Inquiry highlights a number of inconsistencies and flaws in the SIU investigation.

One of the major parts highlighted in the CLI is the large scope of Francique’s arrest, considering Peel police were only planning on arresting him for breaching bail conditions.

In the SIU report, the director noted, “There are legitimate questions regarding the nature of the police conduct leading up to the shooting.”

Peel police say they had been informed Francique was involved in drug trafficking and had possession of a firearm. They were unable to confirm either offence during their surveillance of him. The report states Francique was out on bail in relation to firearms and drug-related charges and had allegedly been spotted leaving his home, a violation of his bail conditions, and the decision was made to arrest him that evening.

Six plainclothes officers from Peel’s VICE squad were involved in the arrest outside his home in Mississauga and were planning on blocking his vehicle in when Francique attempted to leave his home, according to the SIU report.

The intended plan couldn’t be put into motion as the officer assigned to block Francique’s vehicle was late arriving to the scene. This meant Francique was able to reverse out and began to drive away when the police officers then attempted to block him in.

The shooting happened shortly after and did not result in charges as the SIU found that when the officer was “confronted by a vehicle that the officer had reason to believe was intentionally being driven in his direction, the officer’s decision to disable its operating mind by shooting in the direction of the driver was not devoid of logic.”

Both Singh and Francique’s family question why such a large-scale operation was used to arrest Francique when it was just for breaching bail conditions.

“You’ve taken the measures of taking down a kingpin. You’ve taken those high measures of putting spikes underneath my son’s tires, having [six] police cars, having plain clothes cops coming towards my son,” said Derek Francique.

They also question why the charge of failing to provide the necessities of life wasn’t considered. They allege the time between when Francique was shot and when police waited to provide him medical care could be grounds for this charge.

“Those initial minutes after being shot seconds was so important for him to receive medical attention and so we believe there’s a failure again. The SIU does not mention that not at all,” said Singh.

Francique was shot around 7:44 p.m. Police officers waited for a tactical team to arrive to approach him and he did not begin to receive medical attention until after 8:05 p.m.

The CLI also notes Francique was taken to St. Michael’s Hospital, a trauma centre 30 minutes away, rather than Credit Valley Hospital that was less than 10 minutes away from the scene of the shootings.

The SIU’s report was also the first time that it was revealed a firearm had been located on Francique. It was not mentioned in prior news releases or in meetings with the victim’s family.

One of the other inconsistencies was where the firearm was located following the shooting. One part of the SIU’s reports says the firearm was found in a satchel on Francique’s person, and in another section, ‘Notification of SIU’, it says the firearm was found in the waistband of his pants.

The SIU tells CityNews the firearm has since been handed over to Peel police for their investigation, but no further details were made available.

Jamal Francique Comprehensive Legal Inquiry by CityNewsToronto on Scribd

In a response to the CLI, The SIU tells CityNews many of the discrepancies highlighted were between the police service’s account at the time of notification and the SIU’s account following a full investigation.

“Police often get facts wrong at notification because they are required to notify the SIU immediately and refrain from performing their own investigation,” the SIU responded. “To assert, as Mr. Singh does, that there are discrepancies in the SIU Director’s Report because the intake information does not align with the findings of fact made after the investigation is simply wrong and misleading.”

“Mr. Singh’s report was carefully considered and found to contain no evidence or theory of culpability capable of supporting reasonable grounds to believe any police officer committed a criminal offence in connection with Mr. Francique’s death,” said an SIU spokesperson.

Francique family wants accountability

Francique’s family says they can no longer get justice because that would mean having Jamal back in their lives but want to see accountability.

“We are looking for accountability, but to date, nothing. Our challenge is out there. The CLI is out there, and it’s just been ignored. By not, just the police, but by our government,” said Francique’s mother Ann-Marie White. “It’s like nobody’s paying attention. For me, it’s like they don’t care and to even release a report such as what the SIU released just shows right there that they don’t care.”

When asked to comment on the incident, Peel Regional Police say they were unable to provide a response due to the open OIPRD investigation. The OIPRD could not confirm a complaint had been filed due to a confidentiality provision in the Police Services Act.

In the CLI, Singh says police accountability when it comes to police-involved shootings continues to be an issue in the GTA, specifically with Peel police.

Peel continues to have disproportionately high rates of people shot by police. In 2020, despite making up only 10 per cent of Ontario’s population, Peel police accounted for 27 per cent of shootings causing injury or death in the province, according to data obtained from Singh.

According to same data, there have been 28 shooting deaths by police investigated by the SIU between 2017 and April 2021. Of those, zero resulted in charges for the subject officer.

“That zero percent charge rate casts doubt on the notion that the SIU conducts ‘fair” and “objective’ investigations when civilians are shot dead by the police.”

Over 150,000 people have signed a petition to bring awareness about his death, called “Justice for Jamal Francique.”

“He was my world. Jamal was my world. He meant everything. To me, to our family. Everything. He was a beautiful, beautiful young man. Beautiful, kindest heart,” said White emotionally.

Francique was a father of two to a young boy and girl and was planning to go back to school for excavation.

“Jamal was a very bright, ambitious, loving, caring. He always always cares what everybody before himself. He was 100% devoted to his children … And he was a very giving person. He loved helping people because he liked to see everybody smile,” added his father.

Derek says he wants Jamal to be remembered for the man he was and as a victim, not a “career criminal.”

“I will not stop. I’m not going to stop fighting, just give me some accountability,” pleaded White.