A Toronto police officer who fired bean bag rounds at a 26-year-old man holding a fork inside a hospital in June will not be charged, the province’s police watchdog says. Joseph Martino, the director of the Special Investigations Unit, said in his report released Saturday that he did not find any reasonable grounds to lay criminal charges against the officer in relation to the June 14 shooting at Scarborough Centenary Hospital. The report detailed the interaction that occurred in the hospital. The 26-year-old man, who is referred to in the report as the complainant, attended the hospital at 10:31 a.m. “to seek help with what he believed to be an attack on him by other worldly forces,” the SIU report stated. “The complainant had armed himself with a fork prior to attending the hospital.” Once inside, the complainant spoke to hospital staff and followed at least two people, including a physician. That prompted staff to alert security personnel. Shortly after returning to the lobby, two security personnel approached the complainant, who then “pointed his hands at the guards while brandishing the fork over his head,” the report stated. The guards tried to de-escalate the situation, asking the complainant to put down the fork. At 10:36 a.m., two Toronto police officers arrived, including the one who the SIU designated as the subject official (SO), and confronted the complainant. The SIU said the SO armed himself with the shotgun loaded with bean bag rounds while the other officer had a Taser. During the interaction, the SO fired two bean bag rounds at the complainant, causing him to fall forward and land on the floor, the SIU said. The complainant did not heed demands by officers to drop the fork that he kept holding, the SIU said. “Officers attempted to engage him in conversation. The complainant became agitated and began to scream at the officers,” the SIU report stated A third officer shortly entered the lobby, moved in behind the complainant, and Tasered him, causing him to fall forward. The officers proceeded to arrest him. “While the officers were attempting to secure him, the complainant flailed and resisted their efforts. Ultimately, the complainant was secured in restraints and taken to the emergency department of the hospital,” the SIU report stated He was diagnosed with a fracture of his sternum and placed on a Form 1 psychiatric assessment. SIU Director Martino stated in his report that he was satisfied the SO used only lawful force in the arrest. “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,” Martino stated in his report. “When he stepped into the lobby, he found himself immediately confronting the Complainant, who was brandishing a weapon. 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 added that while the bean bag rounds did not immediately work, they contained the complainant, which ultimately led 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.”
