Regis Korchinski-Paquet’s family sues officers, the SIU two years after her death

The family of Regis Korchinski-Paquet has filed a $10 million lawsuit against several police officers and the head of Ontario’s police watchdog more than two years after the 29-year-old woman fell from a Toronto balcony.

The lawsuit, which was filed earlier this week, also names as defendants the province’s attorney general, the City of Toronto and the Toronto Community Housing Corporation.

Korchinski-Paquet’s death in May 2020 came days after the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man from Minneapolis, and further fuelled protests and calls to defund the police.

RELATED: Family ‘still fighting’ for answers a year after Korchinski-Paquet’s death

The province’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), later found there were no grounds to charge any of the officers involved.

The SIU said in May 2021 that while it does at times reopen investigations when new information comes to light, none was brought forward in connection with the Korchinski-Paquet case.

The agency also denied collecting Korchinski-Paquet’s phone or ever having it, and said it had been advised that Toronto police were not in possession of the device.

“The SIU stands by the integrity of its investigation and final report,” spokeswoman Monica Hudon said.

Family lawyer claims to have video showing interaction with police

The $10 million lawsuit alleges Korchinski-Paquet’s relatives suffered severe emotional distress after they were provided with “misleading information” at the time of her death.

The statement of claim also alleges that the Toronto police officers “deliberately misled” the investigation carried out by the SIU and the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, another watchdog organization.

“(The family is) hoping that through the civil process, more information can be gathered,” their lawyer, Jason E. Bogle, said Friday.

Protesters surround a court services vehicle, following the arrest of three individuals, as demonstrators mark the first anniversary of the death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet, the 29-year-old African Indigenous woman who died in the presence of Toronto police officers, in Toronto on Monday, May 24, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

The civil process will allow them to request third-party records, including those related to her phone, which she was using when police arrived, he said. “We can do that and therefore, more answers can be uncovered,” he said.

The civil process would also provide an opportunity to question the officers involved, Bogle said.

“And so the decision to go through the civil process … is just as empowering because of the fact that they’re going to be in control of getting the answers, or at least questioning these officers about what happened that day,” he said.

“You find a young Black (and Indigenous) woman goes over a balcony, you don’t want to see an apathy of it,” he said. “So I think the best outcome from the civil suit is that there is no apathy, that there is accountability. That’s what’s important.”

Bogle has also released a video that he alleges shows an interaction between Toronto police and Korchinski-Paquet moments before she fell.

The defendants, who have 20 days to file a response after being served with the suit, could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.