SIU concludes no criminal offence for Toronto police officer who shot at fleeing SUV in North York
Posted April 13, 2024 3:07 pm.
The director of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Joseph Martino, has concluded that there were no reasonable grounds to believe a Toronto police officer committed a criminal offence after firing at an Acura SUV that failed to stop for police in North York.
On Dec. 15, 2023, police responded to a call about an armed robbery in Scarborough. The three males involved were located in an SUV, aged 20, 17 and 16 years old, in the area of Plunkett Road and Millwick Road.
The officer was standing outside his vehicle, with other officers positioning their cruisers to block the SUV’s path. The driver continued toward the area where the officer was standing.
The officer shot at the moving vehicle and the SUV collided head-on with another police vehicle.
The males were arrested. None of them were struck by the officer’s shots.
Martino noted that video evidence showed the Acura briefly turned in the direction of the officer before it straightened out and was shot by the officer.
Also, video concluded the Acura going towards the officers’ cruisers was clearly not going to stop, and if the vehicle did jump the curb to go around the blockade, it would have been on course to collide with the officer, and the officer’s actions were a justifiable force in self-defence.
