Woman struck by stray bullet suing for damages
Names police chief, services board and others
A Mississauga, woman injured by a stray bullet during an incident in which a man was fatally shot by police is suing Peel Regional Police Chief Jennifer Evans, the police services board and others for damages.
Ontario’s police watchdog agency says Suzan Zreik was in her home when officers fired multiple shots, killing a 22-year-old man on March 20, 2015, and she was taken to hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound.
In a lawsuit filed Friday, Zreik, 23, claims assault and battery, negligence causing bodily harm, gross negligence and abuse of process and misfeasance in public office.
The statement of claim alleges Evans failed to ensure officers were properly trained and that she knowingly withheld the extent of Zreik’s injuries from the Special Investigations Unit.
None of the claims in the suit have been proven in court.
Sgt. Josh Colley says Peel police are aware that a statement of claim has been filed, but are “unable to comment as this matter is currently before the courts.”
The claim says officers following up on a report of threats being made attempted to lure a woman from her home to arrest her.
It says the woman’s son came out of the home and was pepper-sprayed by officers, after which the mother came out brandishing a saucepan.
As the officers were wrestling with the woman, the son came running back yelling and was met with a “hail” of 19 bullets, 11 of which struck him, the claim states.
Another struck one of the officers — causing minor bruising — while most of the other rounds struck the walls and door jams of units in the complex, the claim says.
Zreik — who was in her kitchen — was struck in the back by a bullet that smashed through her front window, the claim says.
It also alleges Zreik was denied access to her family while in hospital and one officer refused to allow her father “to visit his gravely wounded daughter as she lay suffering in bed with a police bullet in her back.”
Zreik was discharged from hospital early the next day after doctors said they could not immediately remove the bullet and advised her to go to a Toronto hospital to have it removed, the claim says.
Zreik — who was in the Police Foundations course at Humber College — claims Evans visited her in hospital, told to call her if she needed anything and that “her future career in policing was all but guaranteed.”
Zreik claims Evans and the other defendants deliberately misled the SIU into believing her injuries were minor in nature so the police watchdog wouldn’t speak to her.
The bullet was removed from Zreik’s back on April 15, 2015, but the claim says she currently walks with a cane due to the “disabling effects” of her injuries and has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.