Man with knife sends two officers to hospital

Two Toronto police officers were sent to hospital Tuesday after they were injured by a knife-wielding man in Etobicoke — an altercation that ended when officers restrained him with the help of a conducted energy weapon.

Speaking to reporters at the scene Tuesday, Chief James Ramer said a sergeant sustained two serious slash wounds while a constable suffered minor injuries after they were “attacked” in the common area of a rooming house near Royal York Road and Lawrence Avenue West.

The sergeant is in Sunnybrook hospital and his injuries have been deemed to be not lifethreatening, Ramer said.

The incident happened at around 11:15 a.m., as officers were assisting in a Peel Region police investigation into the disappearance of Nathaniel Brettell, 56, who was reported missing Monday.

According to Ramer, the missing man resides in the rooming house. When Peel officers searched the apartment Monday night, they located some blood inside his unit.

Toronto police were then called in to help with the investigation.

Ramer said officers had been conducting a search and speaking to people in the area Tuesday morning when a man emerged from a room in the house and, without saying anything, “came out and immediately attacked” two of the officers with a knife.

Police restrained the man using a Taser. He was then taken to the hospital, Ramer said.

The missing person investigation is continuing and police say they are concerned for Brettell’s safety.

He is described as five-footeight, with a thin build, receding grey hair and a white beard.