TORONTO – A Toronto police officer has been cleared in an incident in which a 52-year-old man was shot and wounded in the leg and chest.
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit says there are “no reasonable grounds” to charge the officer after he fired twice at a man who was advancing toward him with a knife.
The agency says the unnamed officer was one of two who had gone to an apartment (near Kipling Avenue) on Nov. 4, to accompany the man’s daughter while she collected her belongings.
It says the man argued with his daughter, then went to the kitchen where the officer heard him shuffling though utensils and then saw him with a knife in his hand.
The officer drew his gun and repeatedly ordered the man to drop the knife but the SIU says the man did not comply and the officer – backed against a wall – fired his weapon.
Acting SIU director Joseph Martino says the officer believed his life was in danger and was legally justified in shooting the man.
“These were very tight quarters,” Martino said.
“With nowhere left to retreat and confronted by a man holding a knife and pointed in his direction, the subject officer shot when the man refused to drop the knife and neared to within six feet of his location.”
Martino says the officer’s account of what happened is supported by the other officer who witnessed the incident and also corroborated by forensic evidence at the scene.
The SIU is an arm’s-length agency that investigates death, serious injury or sexual assault involving police.
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