The Special Investigations Unit has concluded that there “are no reasonable grounds to believe” either officer committed a criminal offence in the death of a 16-year-old boy following an exchange of gunfire with police.
In the 10 seconds from when the first shot was fired by the teen to when the gunfire ceased, more than two dozen total rounds were fired, according to the SIU report released Friday.
The April 20 incident drew widespread attention when it was learned the deceased was just 16 years old, and after video from the incident was released to the media, prompting the Toronto Police Service to launch a professional standards investigation.
The 16-year-old was shot during a traffic stop near Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue West at around 11 p.m. and died in hospital the following day.
According to the SIU report, a red Infiniti G35 two-door coupe was driving eastbound on Sheppard Avenue West when it was pulled over by a police officer east of Bathurst Street, next to the apartment complex at 569 Sheppard Ave. W. There were six people in the five-occupant car, including the victim, or Complainant, who was sitting in the back right of the vehicle with someone on his lap.
The SIU said the female driver told police the vehicle was not hers, but belonged to an acquaintance, and that the officer asked them to wait while he went to his cruiser to run checks on her licence. He returned and said he smelled cannabis in the vehicle and that he wanted them to step out so it could be searched. Two more officers had arrived at this time and were standing at the passenger side of the Infiniti. The driver and front passenger exited the vehicle and the female passenger on the victim’s lap exited as well, leaving three people in the back of the vehicle, the report states.
“The Complainant subsequently moved as if he was about to exit the Infiniti when he suddenly reached to his left with his right hand before swinging his right hand to the right in the direction of the open door. He was in possession of a semi-automatic pistol, which he fired once or twice at (an officer),” the SIU said.
That officer then drew his firearm, as did the officer by the driver door. An autopsy found that the complainant died of gunshot wounds to the head.
SIU director Joseph Martino writes in his decision that when the 16-year-old began shooting at police, “the officers could only have concluded that their lives were in immediate peril and that action of some type was imperative if they were going to survive.”
However, he notes that the 14-16 rounds fired by one officer and 10 or 11 by the other “contributed to an incredibly dangerous situation,” especially considering there were two other passengers still in the vehicle, the officers were firing across from each other, and there were three others who exited the vehicle but were still nearby.
“The number of shots fired by the officers is worthy of scrutiny, but is understandable in the final analysis given the evidence that the Complainant discharged his firearm three or four more times after the officers first started to fire.”
Martino also noted that the police were not firing “indiscriminately” as the trajectory of bullets showed the gunfire was generally aimed at the complainant.
Both subject officers declined an interview with the SIU, nor did they provide notes, “as is the subject official’s legal right,” the SIU explained. Two civilian witnesses and five witness officials were interviewed as part of the investigation, which also took into account police body camera footage, in-car camera footage, surveillance video from the area and police radio communications.
Meanwhile, Toronto police said in April that five people had been charged in connection with the traffic stop: a 20-year-old man, an 18-year-old woman, two 17-year-old girls and a 16-year-old girl.