The Star’s view
Jury’s verdict sends welcome message about misuse of police power,
To hear the head of the Toronto police union tell it, rank-and-file officers are “shocked and dismayed” at the guilty verdict handed down by a jury on Const. James Forcillo for attempted murder in the death of Sammy Yatim. The verdict sends a “chilling message” through the ranks, says union chief Mike McCormack.
It shouldn’t. While Forcillo’s lawyer, Peter Brauti, complained about “trial by YouTube,” the jurors appear to have given Forcillo every benefit of the doubt. They cleared him of the more serious charge of second-degree murder for fatally shooting Yatim on an empty, stopped streetcar in 2013. In effect, they accepted Forcillo’s claim that he was acting in self-defence, at least initially, when he shot Yatim three times — including the fatal shot — as the 18-yearold brandished a switchblade.
What the jury seemingly couldn’t stomach, and understandably so, was Forcillo’s followup decision to fire six more rounds at Yatim as he lay struggling and dying on the streetcar floor, hitting him five more times. That did not look like the use of lethal force as a last resort, to protect an officer’s life. By that point Yatim posed no threat. Because those shots were not the fatal ones, the charge was attempted murder.
The scene, captured on audio and video from multiple angles, showed Yatim being shot less than a minute after police arrived. It shocked the city and shook its faith in the quality of training police receive in dealing with disturbed, armed and potentially violent people. Hundreds took to the streets in protest.
Now the courts have sent a historic and welcome message that there are consequences to the misuse of police power.
As Yatim’s grieving mother, Sahar Bahadi, said, “police training policies” must change in dealing with people in crisis if the force is to remain “a source of confidence, security and respect.”
This verdict comes at a time when concern is building in Canada and across North America about police use of lethal force. Cases of officers being charged with murder or manslaughter, much less convicted, are rare in Ontario. There have been 11, including Forcillo, since 1990. All the others were cleared.
As Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders readily acknowledges, police continually need to look for “better solutions” when dealing with people in crisis. Nathaniel McNeil, the unarmed security guard who tackled a machete-wielding man outside the Atrium on Bay. St. late last year, had only a “split second” to think before he acted. But he managed to cuff the man. It can be done.
But as Mayor John Tory rightly observed, “more training is necessary.” That was precisely what former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci urged after looking into police use of force following Yatim’s death. He recommended that police use de-escalation and calming techniques as their first recourse, and rely less on the aggressive “police challenge” to drop a weapon.
The mayor also saw value in setting up a vulnerable persons registry and making more use of mobile crisis intervention teams with specially trained police and mental health nurses. It’s all still a work in progress.
An officer’s first reaction should be to try to contain and defuse the situation, especially when there is no danger to the public. Had that happened, Yatim might have lived.
It’s a pity that Canadian juries can’t explain their reasoning, as U.S. juries can, because there is much we could learn from this, including how the jury interpreted the officer’s motivation and conduct. Was it rage? Panic? Were there other factors?
As Forcillo’s defence team has indicated, this case is far from over. Forcillo faces four years or more in prison. Brauti says he will try to have the proceedings stayed, citing an abuse of process, and he could appeal the verdict. Forcillo was following the training he was given, Brauti said, and shouldn’t have been found guilty.
Whatever the final outcome, one thing seems clear. The days of effective police impunity when someone in crisis is harmed are over. That is scant comfort for Sammy Yatim’s family. But it is something.