SIU clears Toronto cop who fired bean bag rounds at fork-wielding man

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A Toronto police officer will not face charges for firing bean bag rounds at a man brandishing a fork inside a Scarborough hospital earlier this year, the Special Investigations Unit says.

The province’s police watchdog said there are no reasonable grounds to lay criminal charges against the officer who shot the 26-year-old man, who was not identified in the report, at Scarborough Centenary Hospital (SCH) on June 14.

Details of the interaction

Officers were called to SCH’s emergency room following reports of a man “brandishing a knife or scissors in a threatening manner,” the SIU report stated.

The man, armed with fork, arrived at the ER at 10:31 a.m. to “seek help with what he believed to be an attack on him by other worldly forces.”

Once inside, the man spoke to hospital staff and followed at least two people, including a doctor, and could be heard “chanting to himself,” according to the report.

Security was called and approached the man to try to de-escalate the situation, but he continued to wield the fork, “pointing in the direction of the guards.”

Officers arrive at the scene

Two officers arrived at 10:36 a.m. — one armed with a shotgun loaded with bean bag rounds and the other with a Taser — confronted the man and told him to drop the weapon.

An altercation ensued when a bystander grabbed the man around the waist from behind, resulting in the officer discharging two bean bag rounds.

The man refused to drop the fork, despite cops’ demands.

“Officers attempted to engage him in conversation. The complainant became agitated and began to scream at the officers,” the report said.

A third officer arrived and Tasered the man prior to his arrest.

“While the officers were attempting to secure him, the complainant flailed and resisted their efforts,” according to the report. “Ultimately, the complainant was secured in restraints and taken to the emergency department of the hospital.”

He was diagnosed with a fracture of his sternum and a psychiatric assessment was ordered.

Director’s findings

“In this case, the complainant, who was of unsound mind at the time, was brandishing a weapon that could conceivably have been used to harm or potentially kill other persons,” SIU Director Joseph Martino said in the report.

“It is my view that the SO’s choice of weapon was appropriate for the circumstances and his quick decision to attempt to incapacitate the complainant was equally appropriate.”

He noted that while the bean bag rounds did not immediately work, they managed to rein in the man, leading to his arrest.

“In the result, while I accept that the Complainant was injured by at least one of the rounds fired by the SO, I am of the view that the force used by him was reasonably necessary in the circumstances.”

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