‘I feared for my safety,’ cop testifies
MacIsaac’s sister says officer’s story of shooting doesn’t add up
When Joanne MacIsaac came face to face for the first time on Thursday with the man who killed her brother, the anger and frustration she’s felt since his death only intensified.
“I would say your story doesn’t add up,” an emotional MacIsaac told reporters when asked what she would like to say to Durham police Const. Brian Taylor, who shot and killed Michael MacIsaac on an Ajax street on Dec. 2, 2013.
“You have ripped our family apart, not only by the loss of Michael, but the fact that we are in the position to spend so much time fighting to get the truth.”
Thursday was the first day of Taylor’s testimony at the coroner’s inquest into MacIsaac’s death and the first time MacIsaac’s family and the public gained some insight into what was going through his mind the day he killed the 47-year-old man.
MacIsaac’s family believes he suffered an epileptic seizure before leaving his house naked that cold December day. Ontario’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), cleared Taylor of criminal wrongdoing, finding MacIsaac was advancing on Taylor with a metal table leg.
“I’m gonna have that metal bar put right through my skull,” is what Taylor said he was thinking at the time. “I feared for my safety.”
There had been many 911 calls that day of a man running naked through a residential area of Ajax. And although MacIsaac’s latest location was not in Taylor’s assigned “zone,” he testified that he responded because he wanted to assist.
He arrived on Dring St., where a black pickup truck was parked in the middle of the street and the driver was waving Taylor down.
The officer testified the driver, Ron Nino, told Taylor words to the effect of “he’s behind you.”
Taylor said he spotted a “torso” through his rearview passenger mirror, and that once he exited his vehicle, he saw MacIsaac holding the bar as if it was a baseball bat. He said MacIsaac’s face was “scrunched up and distorted,” that he was saying “Come on, come on,” and that about10 to15 feet separated them. At least one other officer was also on scene, parked behind Taylor.
“I remember issuing the police challenge and I remember hearing it,” Taylor testified. (The challenge is “Police. Don’t move.”) “Somebody said ‘Drop it, get down on the ground.’ I thought that if I have to take a shot, don’t miss. There are a lot of people around. Then he moved off the curb. I fired the first round. I didn’t hear the gun go off. I felt it . . . I didn’t know if I had hit him, because there was no effect. And he continued to move and I fired a second round and I know that one struck him.”
Under cross-examination, the MacIsaac family’s lawyer, Roy Wellington, highlighted the fact that much of what Taylor said he heard or said is not captured on a 911 call placed by Nino, the driver of the pickup truck, from the scene.
On that call, which the MacIsaac family had analyzed by a forensic scientist, a voice can be heard telling Nino “get back, get back,” and within seconds, shots are fired. No one can be heard issuing commands and no one can be heard saying “Come on, come on.” (Nino testified Wednesday he heard Taylor say something like “Drop it” once before almost immediately shooting MacIsaac.)
Taylor, who has been a police officer since 1999 and is temporarily assigned to the major crimes unit, said he believes the voice saying “get back, get back” is another officer who was a bit further away from Nino and Taylor.
“I’m having a hard time understanding how we can hear someone further away from Mr. Nino, but we don’t actually hear you issuing any commands at all,” Wellington said to Taylor.
The officer said it’s possible the cellphone was malfunctioning and didn’t capture everything that was said that morning.
Taylor told Wellington he did consider de-escalation techniques, such as trying to talk to MacIsaac, on his way over to the scene, but said he realized that was impossible once he got there.
“Regardless of who shouted commands, there wasn’t much of an opportunity for Mr. MacIsaac to respond. Would you agree with that?” Wellington asked.
“No. I would not. He could have dropped that metal bar,” was Taylor’s response.
The officer also said he briefly considered other use-of-force options at the scene, such as his baton or pepper spray, but quickly ruled them out. He didn’t have a Taser, as only sergeants carried them at the time.
“They’re not applicable in this situation,” he said of his other options. “The thought crossed my mind, but I would have to get closer to use pepper spray or my baton, which was shorter than the metal bar.”
After shooting MacIsaac the second time, Taylor said he heard a “bloodcurdling scream” and saw black-red blood coming out of MacIsaac’s abdomen. He kept his gun trained on the man until two other officers took away the table leg and handcuffed him, “because he was still a threat.”
Joanne MacIsaac told reporters she questioned how Taylor did not know if the first shot struck her brother considering he was naked.
She’s also demanding to know if the SIU ever listened to the Nino 911 call as part of its investigation that led to Taylor being cleared of criminal wrongdoing. (The agency has never said if it did or if it even obtained the call.)
“Something that could be done if the SIU had done their job properly and laid charges,” she said.
MacIsaac, who watched Thursday’s proceedings with a number of relatives, said she got the impression Taylor “was really attempting to show some caring and compassion for the family. I don’t know if it’s sincere, but we don’t want it. He should have showed caring and compassion to Michael on Dec. 2. Don’t try to give it to us now.”
Taylor’s testimony continues Friday.