Toronto police officer charged after man shot in the arm during investigation

A Toronto police officer has been charged after a man was shot in the arm during an investigation at a hotel in the city’s north end last year.

The Special Investigations Unit, the province’s police watchdog, said officers followed a vehicle into the parking lot of the Toronto Don Valley Hotel & Suites at 175 Wynford Dr. on Feb. 15, 2016.

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Once outside the hotel, the SIU said there was an unspecified “interaction” between one of the officers and a 31-year-old male passenger in the vehicle.

The SIU said the officer’s gun “discharged” and the passenger suffered a gunshot wound to the arm.

Toronto Police Const. John De Sousa faces a charge of careless use of a firearm and is scheduled to appear in a Toronto court on March 1.

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SIU spokeswoman Monica Hudon declined to comment further on the incident and the nature of the investigation police were conducting at the time.

The SIU classifies itself as an arm’s length agency that investigates reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.