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Published Jan 22, 2024 • 3 minute read
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A former Toronto police officer who shot a teen on an empty streetcar told a coroner’s inquest Monday that having a stun gun would have “changed everything.”
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James Forcillo began his testimony at the inquest into the death of 18-year-old Sammy Yatim, whom he shot during a confrontation in July 2013.
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Asked what could have helped him make better decisions that night, Forcillo said having a stun gun would have made “a world of difference,” and had he had access to one, “none of us would be here.”
At the time, only front-line supervisors had access to stun guns, he said. “That particular night, there was a real shortage of supervisors, and when you need a Taser, you need it right now, you don’t need it in five, 10 minutes,” he added.
He argued that was a “giant failure” on the part of the solicitor general, but one that has since been remedied as stun guns are more widely available to front-line officers.
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Yatim was alone on a streetcar holding a small knife when Forcillo shot him shortly after midnight. The teen was hit by two rounds of shots.
An agreed statement of facts read at the inquest said the entire confrontation lasted about 60 seconds. Within 20 seconds of the last shot, a sergeant arrived at the scene and used his stun gun on Yatim, who had fallen to the floor after the first volley of shots, the statement said.
In a criminal trial, Forcillo was found not guilty of second-degree murder related to the first round of shots, which court heard was fatal, but was found guilty of the lesser charge of attempted murder related to the second round.
Forcillo was sentenced to six-and-a-half years behind bars and was granted full parole in 2020.
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On Monday, coroner’s counsel Grace Alcaide Janicas asked Forcillo about his time as a police officer before Yatim’s death. She suggested the officer had been flagged as “having a tendency to be rough” in some of his dealings with the public, which Forcillo denied.
Forcillo said he wrote a lot of tickets while working in traffic enforcement because he was “young” and “trying to make a name” for himself. “And when you are exposed quite as much as I was to the public, naturally you might ruffle some feathers,” he said.
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Janicas noted that Forcillo had been spoken to by a supervisor in 2011 as part of an early intervention process, which Forcillo acknowledged but said he couldn’t remember any details of, only that it didn’t affect his work.
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The inquest heard last week that Forcillo had five instances where he drew a firearm between April and December 2012, and another in July 2013, about two weeks before Yatim’s death.
Those instances were entered into a system meant to facilitate early intervention, the inquest heard. Other types of incidents, such as collisions with police cruisers and internal or external complaints, are also entered into the system, it heard.
When an officer has three or more instances of drawing a firearm within 12 months, the system issues a report that is sent to a supervisor, the inquest heard. The threshold may be different for other types of incidents, it heard.
The report is meant to prompt a check on the officer’s overall well-being rather than a disciplinary process, the inquest heard.
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Forcillo was asked Monday about the use-of-force incidents in 2012 and said there was “nothing sinister” about them. “They were all righteous, there was nothing wrong with them,” he said, adding that he hadn’t received any negative feedback on the issue.
He said he could not remember the 2013 incident.
At the end of his testimony, Forcillo suggested there wasn’t much he could contribute to the inquest process.
“Truthfully, I have testified on this at length, during the criminal trial I was on the stand for five days, I’ve spoken about it at my parole hearing. I haven’t been a police officer actually on the road in over a decade,” he said.
“I genuinely don’t know what I have to add to this inquest, so I’m hoping that we can look forward … and do something so that these types of incidents don’t happen again.”
He is due to return Tuesday for cross-examination.
Jurors have been told that the inquest is meant to explore issues related to police decision-making and best practices in dealing with people in crisis, but not to review the events of that night or Forcillo’s potential culpability.
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