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All the warning signs were there — yet this quick-draw cop was still allowed to remain on duty.
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Why didn’t his bosses step in?
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James Forcillo, the former Toronto Police officer who killed teen Sammy Yatim, had drawn his firearm five times in just eight months before the 2013 shooting. And 10 days before he fired those nine shots at the knife-wielding teen aboard an empty streetcar, Forcillo had pulled a shotgun to make an arrest.
Those astounding statistics emerged during the second day of the long-delayed inquest into the high-profile police shooting on July 27, 2013; Forcillo was convicted of attempted murder — but not second-degree murder — after the jury believed he was justified in firing the first three shots at Yatim, but not the second volley after he lay wounded on the ground.
Toronto Police Supt. Lisa Cooker testified about how the TPS recruits officers and has an early intervention program designed to flag cops who might have potential misconduct issues: a database triggers an alert after a certain number of concerning incidents, such as drawing their firearm three times in a 12-month period.
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It’s confidential and non-disciplinary, designed to counsel and monitor officers whose conduct may be leading them into trouble. “It’s from a wellness perspective,” she explained.
It’s the same early warning system that was in place during Forcillo’s brief career.
When it came to questions about Forcillo, Cooker said she wasn’t familiar with Forcillo’s complete file — initially she’d said he had three use of force reports for 2012, but then corrected herself and said there were five. She wasn’t aware there had been internal and external complaints about him.
“That’s not my expertise,” she said.
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At his trial, Forcillo himself had testified that he’d pulled his Glock .40-calibre pistol “about a dozen times” during his 3½ years as an officer. Less than a minute after he’d arrived at the scene of the stopped and empty streetcar, with Yatim shouting obscenities inside, Forcillo opened fire.
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Lawyer Ed Upenieks, who represents Yatim’s father, Bill, and sister, Sara, asked the superintendent about Forcillo’s use of force that had been documented five times in 2012.
“To be accurate, it’s actually five times in eight months. Do you know how that compares to other TPS officers?” Upenieks asked.
“You don’t want officers who have pointed their firearms an excessive number of times, correct? You don’t want an officer who has pointed a shotgun a number of times, correct?” he continued.
“I’m suggesting to you that whatever mechanism was in place prior to 2013 for intervention wasn’t working properly, do you agree with me?”
Cooker agreed. “My condolences to the family and it is a tragedy and there are no words that I can say. The intervention did not (work) at that point,” said the 27-year veteran.
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“So the police were not doing a good job policing the police in July of 2013, do you agree with me?” the lawyer pressed on.
“There were certainly gaps and challenges in that intervention opportunity,” she conceded.
“This case shows, if it shows nothing else, TPS certainly has to do a better job of policing their own police. It’s a tragedy,” Upenieks asserted.
“We certainly can’t rewrite history,” Cooker said. “In moving forward, since this awful tragedy, the service looks to ways to improve those gaps where we are essentially policing the police. I can only speak to where we are now and not where we were in 2013.”
Perhaps Forcillo will have more answers about what — if anything– his superiors did a decade ago when they were alerted to his concerning propensity to pull his firearm.
Sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison, he’s expected to be a witness at the inquest next week. The former constable was granted full parole in 2020 with several conditions, including never owning a gun again.
mmandel@postmedia.com
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