Defence asks court to reject police negligence suit

Shooting victim and mother seeking $9 million, arguing that 2004 attack by gang member could have been prevented

Nine years after Kofi Patrong was shot three times by a murder suspect later convicted in a string of shootings in Scarborough, legal wrangling is underway over a lawsuit alleging Toronto police failed to warn potential victims or protect the public.

The defence has asked court to reject the suit, contending police did not owe a duty of care to Patrong as an individual but rather to the public as a whole.

“The circumstances of this claim concern the performance of the policing function in the general public interest,” the defendants’ submission reads.

Patrong and his mother, Rose, launched the lawsuit in 2011 after learning Toronto police were investigating the shooter, Tyshan Riley, prior to the April 2004 attack that saw Riley pump three bullets into Patrong as he sat in his backyard.

Patrong was one of several young men in the area whom Riley, a member of the notorious Galloway Boys gang, mistook for members of the rival Malvern Crew and shot during a bitter turf war. Patrong and his mother allege police knew Riley — now in prison for murder and attempted murder — was a danger to the public and could have arrested him for breaching probation but did not.

The statement of claim also alleges police had a duty to warn young black men whom Riley might perceive as rival gang members. Their lawyer, Barry Swadron, said police generally don’t owe a private duty of care but there are exceptions, such as the so-called Jane Doe case, in which a victim sued Toronto police after they failed to warn women about a serial rapist.

Defence lawyer Kevin McGivney called it “an attempt to shoehorn this case into a vastly different case, the Jane Doe case.”

Patrong seeks $8.5 million in damages, his mother $525,000. The claim names the Toronto Police Services Board, thenpolice chief Julian Fantino, and two homicide detectives, Wayne Banks and Al Comeau.