Two Toronto police officers charged after firing at occupants in stolen vehicle: SIU

Two Toronto police officers are facing charges after firing at a vehicle following a car theft in Toronto’s west end last year, according to the province’s police watchdog.

The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) says the officers were in the area of College and Dufferin Streets around noon on June 11, 2023, when they found a vehicle that had been reported stolen.

The SIU says an interaction with the two occupants in the stolen Cadillac, a 26-year-old man and 45-year-old man, led to police firing their guns in the direction of the men in the car.

The two men drove away from the scene but the Cadillac ended up stopping after crashing into a pole near Bloor and Havelock streets.

Both men were arrested at the scene. The 26-year-old was rushed to hospital with injuries following his arrest.

Photos from the scene at the time of the incident showed a vehicle protected by police tape with at least one bullet hole in the front windshield.

“The Director of the SIU, Joseph Martino, has reasonable grounds to believe that two Toronto Police Service officers committed criminal offences,” reads a release from the SIU.

The watchdog says two officers, Cst. Jamie Denysek and Cst. Derek MacNeil, have been charged with three offences each, including assault with a weapon, careless use of a firearm and discharging a firearm with the intent to wound, maim or endanger life.

The officers will appear in a Toronto courtroom in March.