Shot 8 times, Yatim still threat: officer

Const. Robert Furyk thought teenager was using one of his hands to prop himself up — ‘doing a mini sit-up’

Even after Sammy Yatim had collapsed from being struck by eight hollow-point bullets, it appeared as though the teenager still posed a threat, a Toronto police officer testified Friday.

Const. Robert Furyk was among the police officers responding to a call about a man with the knife on a streetcar on July 26, 2013. He arrived on scene just as Const. James Forcillo was firing nine shots at Yatim, eight of which struck the teenager.

In streetcar surveillance video shown to the jury, Furyk can be seen arriving on scene immediately after Forcillo fired a second volley of shots at Yatim; Furyk can be seen approaching with his gun drawn, then holstering it as he stops in front of the streetcar doors, next to Forcillo.

The video then shows both officers taking tentative steps toward Yatim — who is lying on the floor of the streetcar — before Furyk suddenly yanks Forcillo back, stopping him from going forward. Furyk then again pulls out his gun.

“I believed that Mr. Yatim was going to get back up and continue his fight,” Furyk said, when asked by defence lawyer Peter Brauti why he had drawn his gun and pulled Forcillo away from Yatim.

“I didn’t want (Forcillo) to get stabbed,” Furyk later told Ontario Superior Court Judge Ed Then.

Forcillo has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and attempted murder in the death of Yatim.

The 18-year-old was shot dead while alone on a Dundas streetcar early on July 27, 2013.

Moments before, Yatim had sent passengers fleeing the streetcar when he pulled out a knife and exposed himself.

Furyk, who had eight years on the job at the time of the shooting, said it had appeared to him as though Yatim was trying to raise himself up off the floor of the streetcar after being shot.

Yatim was using one of his hands to prop himself up — “doing a mini situp,” Furyk said.

When surveillance video from inside the streetcar was played and did not clearly show Yatim attempting to lift himself up, as Furyk had described, the officer said he could not explain why he believed Yatim had been pulling himself up — “that’s what I believed I was seeing,” Furyk said.

In a heated cross-examination, Crown counsel Ian Bulmer pressed Furyk on his statement that he was afraid Yatim was going to rise up and “continue his fight.” During questioning, Furyk admitted he had not seen Yatim’s actions prior to Forcillo firing his gun and had no evidence that the teenager had been fighting.

“So where do you get off testifying about him continuing a fight if you didn’t see such a thing?” Bulmer asked.

“Well, I know the officers would not have shot unless something serious was happening,” Furyk replied. “Really,” Bulmer said. The trial continues Monday.