Vigil today for man killed by police
Family of mentally unstable Ajax man hopes for change in use-of-force tactics
The morning Michael MacIsaac ran naked and barefoot onto the frigid streets of his Ajax neighbourhood, his family reacted with panic. He’d never done anything like this before, his sister said.
They worried he’d freeze in the December cold, believing he was confused, feverish and disoriented. Instead, the 47-year-old construction worker was shot by a Durham police officer. He died the next day at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.
“We were completely thrown into turmoil,” said Joanne MacIsaac, one of his five sisters.
“Christmas was quite difficult. We had to help our mother through that,” she said. “He was her only son.”
One month after his death, MacIsaac’s family will hold a candlelight vigil on Saturday near the scene of the incident, remembering him as a kind man with a passion for fitness who would drive across town for a slice of his mother’s pie.
MacIsaac had seizures regularly as a result of a childhood head injury, Joanne said. The family believes he was killed while in a state of confusion brought on by a fever that had provoked seizures over the weekend, before he ran out of the house on Monday, Dec. 2.
The Special Investigations Unit, which is called whenever police are involved in incidents that lead to serious injury or death, is still investigating. MacIsaac’s family is calling for the officer to be charged in the shooting, and for all police in Ontario to use de-escalation tactics in such cases, alongside mental health professionals, before resorting to lethal force.
“We became angrier and angrier with it,” said Joanne, describing how she began to research police shootings in the GTA, including the controversial July death of 18-year-old Sammy Yatim, who died after he was shot eight times and then Tasered by Toronto police, while holding a knife on an empty streetcar.
“There have been so many others, and we feel we need to speak out,” said Joanne.
“It’s not just for Michael. We need change for everybody.”
On Dec. 2, shortly after10 a.m., Durham Regional Police received a call about a “man acting in a strange manner” on Dring St. in north Ajax. Eyewitnesses recounted seeing a naked man jogging in the area. One woman told the Star he approached her car, banging on the hood and window.
The woman also told the Star he brandished a metal bar “like a baseball bat” before three officers drew their guns and MacIsaac crumpled to the street. Other witnesses told the Star they didn’t see MacIsaac carrying anything.
“Michael was naked. He was bare- foot. Everything transpired so quickly, it’s hard to believe that it would have been possible for him to pick something up,” Joanne argued. “Regardless, though, of what he was holding,” she added, “I can’t imagine that fatal force was necessary. There had to have been another way. He was obviously in distress.” In the wake of the Yatim shooting, police use-of-force practices when dealing with potentially dangerous situations have become a topic of prominent discussion. Protesters burned an effigy of a pig on the street outside Queen Station last month, after an 18-year-old who reportedly had a gun was shot by police in the subway station. Meanwhile a coroner’s inquest is underway into the Toronto police shooting deaths of three mentally ill people who were carrying sharp objects at the time of their deaths. Deputy Toronto Police Chief Michael Federico testified at the inquest recently, arguing that frontline officers confronting people who pose lethal danger shouldn’t be forced to consider that person’s mental health in the heat of the moment. “Officers have to deal with the behaviour, distinct from what motivates that behaviour,” he said. MacIsaac’s family disagrees, and hopes his story can help prompt change that could prevent similar deaths in the future. “He adored his wife, and he was very dedicated to his mother, his sisters, and all of his nephews,” said Joanne. He and wife Marianne had been hoping to start a family. Saturday’s vigil will be held at 6 p.m. at 201 Williamson Dr. W., Joanne said.