Six years for streetcar shooting
Toronto police officer convicted of attempted murder in death of Sammy Yatim, 18
TORONTO — A Toronto police officer who gunned down a troubled teen on an empty streetcar three years ago abused his authority in a way that undermines public trust in law enforcement and the justice system, a judge said Thursday in sentencing him to six years in prison.
In letting loose a second volley of shots on 18-year-old Sammy Yatim, Const. James Forcillo committed an “egregious breach of trust” and his sentence must serve as notice to other police officers that they should open fire “only as a last resort,” Justice Edward Then told a Toronto court.
The sentence “should not be taken to reflect adversely on the welldeserved reputation of the Toronto Police Service nor diminish in any way the respect and support individual police officers deserve for the dangerous and important work they do,” he said.
“However, when a police officer has committedaseriouscrimeofviolence by breaking the law which the officer is sworn to uphold, it is the duty of the court to firmly denounce that conduct in an effort to repair and affirm the trust that must exist between the community and the police to whom we entrust the use of lethal weapons within the limits prescribed by law.”
Murmurs rippled through the courtroom as Then delivered the sentence. The disgraced police officer, wearing a dark suit, stood straight and stone-faced as he was handcuffed.
Yatim’s parents looked at Forcillo, then turned to one another in silence. But outside the courtroom, Sahar Bahadi, Yatim’s mother, said she remained outraged.
“He destroyed our family, he will destroy our lives,” she said. “But he didn’t show any kind of remorse.”
Yatim’s death on July 27, 2013, sparked public outrage in the city after a cellphone video of the shooting went viral.
In handing down the sentence, Then said the cellphone video was “powerful evidence” that what Forcillo said occurred on the streetcar that night did not actually happen.
The judge spent almost 90 minutes dissecting the evidence that came to light during the trial, delivering a series of stinging rebukes to Forcillo’s conduct, saying his actions constituted “a fundamental failure to understand his duty to preserve all life, not just his own.”
Forcillo’s lawyer, Peter Brauti, said an appeal has already been filed on the conviction and sentencing. Forcillo’s lawyers were to seek bail for their client from the Ontario Court of Appeal later Thursday afternoon.
“It wasn’t how we saw the nature of the offence,” Brauti said.
Mike McCormack, president of the Toronto police union, called the entire case a tragedy.
“We go out there and do our professional job each and every day, and this decision is under appeal,” he said. “This is a tragic day for the Forcillo family, the Yatim family — there will never be any good outcome from this, it’s tragic all around.”
After sentencing, Toronto police suspended Forcillo without pay, according to spokesman Mark Pugash.
The outrage over Yatim’s death prompted the city’s police chief to launch a review of officers’ use of force and their response to emotionally disturbed people.
Then rejected the defence’s assertion that Forcillo should not be subjected to the mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison for the attempted murder conviction. But he also said the Crown’s request that the officer spend between eight to 10 years behind bars was “unreasonable.”
Forcillo’s lawyers, who had argued for house arrest instead of a prison sentence, filed a constitutional appeal, arguing the mandatory minimum was never intended to apply to peace officers who legitimately carry a gun at the behest of the state in order to protect society.