SIU asks police to fight media leaks
Family of woman who fell to death puts off interview, citing news story
The family of Regis KorchinskiPaquet, the woman who fell to her death in the presence of Toronto police officers last month, cancelled an interview with Ontario’s police watchdog hours before it was set to occur Wednesday, citing concerns unnamed police sources are leaking information to the media.
The cancellation — spurred by Toronto Sun reports that include previously unreported details about Korchinski-Paquet’s death cited to unnamed sources — prompted the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) to ask Toronto police to take “immediate steps to prevent further releases of information about what occurred inside the apartment.”
“The public and affected persons will have less confidence in the results of an SIU investigatt are made by police services or officers ahead of the completion of a full SIU investigation,” read a statement from SIU spokesperson Monica Hudon Wednesday, referencing the family’s concern.
Lawyer Knia Singh was scheduled to accompany KorchinskiPaquet’s relatives to an SIU interview Wednesday to discuss the 29-year-old’s May 27 death after falling from her 24th-floor balcony while police were inside her family’s apartment unit.
Singh told the Star the family decided to put the interview with the SIU “on hold” because of two recent articles published in the Toronto Sun that include previously unreported information cited to anonymous sources, including the claim that Korchinski-Paquet died attt empting to “vault to a neighbouring balcony.”
“We already have issues with trust,” Singh said, adding the family deserves an explanatt on. Singh said he believes the “leak” is an attempt to “create a public narrative,” saying police officers must be the source as no one else would be a position to know.
In the SIU statement, Hudon said the watchdog respects the family’s decision and “looks to receiving their acforward counts at the earliest opportunity.”
“According to counsel, leaks of this nature detract from the public’s confidence, and the family’s confidence, in the integrity of the SIU investigation,” Hudon said.
Citing 1999 legislation, the SIU said police services and their members are prohibited from providing information about an incident that’s under investigation by the SIU.
“It does so precisely in order to preserve the independence and the credibility of the SIU’s work,” the statement said.
If information is leaked during the course of an investigation, it “can also contribute to delay in the investigative process, as seems to have occurred here with the cancellation of the family interviews,” Hudon said.
In an email, Toronto police spokesperson Meaghan Gray said the service “does not comment on the validity of information from unnamed sources.”
“We can say that the unauthorized release of information is taken seriously by the TPS and the matter is being investigated by Professional Standards.”
The SIU has urged “patience” and asked for members of the public to avoid “rushing to any conclusions” as it continues its probe Korchinski-Paquet’s final moment.
Toronto police chief Mark Saunders, Mayor John Tory, the Toronto Police Services Board and the Toronto Police Association have all asked the public to await the outcome of the SIU’s investigation before coming to any conclusions.
“Due process to determine what transpired is of utmost importance,” said a statement released last week that was signed by Toronto Police Association president Mike McCormack and the union’s board of directors.
Saunders has said he legally cannot provide information about his officers’ conduct while the SIU investigation is ongoing, though on Friday he said “there’s a whole lot I want to say,” saying that an information vacuum can be filled with “misinformation” and “a lot of it is lies.”