Family of Sammy Yatim hopes for more support as inquest begins

A coroner’s inquest into the death of Sammy Yatim began on Friday, more than a decade after he was shot and killed aboard a Toronto streetcar.

Yatim, who was 18 years old at the time, was shot multiple times by Toronto police Const. James Forcillo while standing alone holding a small knife on the streetcar on July 27, 2013.

Forcillo was the only police officer to open fire on Yatim, firing three shots that caused him to fall to the ground followed by a second volley of six more shots.

In 2016, a jury acquitted Forcillo of second-degree murder related to the first round of shots but convicted the officer of attempted murder related to the second volley. Forcillo was sentenced to six and a half years behind bars and began serving prison time in 2017 after an unsuccessful appeal. He was granted full parole in 2020.

In his opening remarks to the jury, the coroner’s counsel, Peter Napier, clarified that the scope of the inquest would focus on police decision-making and best practices for responding to persons in crisis.

He said that may include factors such as police recruiting, monitoring of officers, the role of bystander officers during confrontations, the role of supervisors in monitoring officers, and the availability of mental health supports.

Yatim’s mother, Dr. Sahar Bahadi, in an emotional plea, said she hopes the inquest results in recommendations to improve training of police and also a recommendation to take care of a victim’s family 

“A reckless police officer shot a teenager under stress nine times,” said Dr. Bahadi. “He killed him instead of deescalating, protect him and save his life.”

His death paralyzed her, she said. “We were alone, me and Sara, in Canada with a new life, with no support. So it was really very difficult for us, and even until now we needed somebody to help us,” she said.

Yatim’s father and sister did not attend the inquest, finding it too difficult and instead sent statements that were read during the inquest. “I miss him terribly … I see someone walking down the street that looks like him and I jump. I am left with a terrible sense of emptiness and loneliness,” said Nabil in his statement.

His sister Sara, in a statement, said she used to dream of babysitting her brother’s kids once he was grown and had a family of his own. That dream was shattered abruptly, as was her hope, she said in a statement read aloud by her lawyer.

“For the past 10 years, I have not been well, I still am not well. I fight every single day just to get out of bed,” she wrote. “All that for something that happened in less than a minute, for something that could have and should have been avoided.”

The streetcar driver that night was the first witness to testify Friday. He went through his perspective of what happened that night, his actions, and the procedures he followed.

The inquest was scheduled to be held in November 2022 but was delayed after Forcillo argued that it should examine the possibility Yatim died by “suicide by cop” – a theory rejected by the presiding coroner.

The inquest is expected to last 13 days and hear from approximately 14 witnesses. It will examine the circumstances surrounding Yatim’s death, and the jury may make recommendations aimed at preventing further fatal incidents.

Files from The Canadian Press were used in this report