The family of a man who died falling from an apartment in Toronto after a negotiation with officers have called for the Toronto police to be abolished.
At an event on Thursday, at the location where Taresh Bobby Ramroop died, his family said he needed medical attention, not a police response on Oct. 13 when he fell.
A statement issued on behalf of the family alleged that “police staged an hours-long standoff which ended after Taresh tried to escape from a window in his Jane/Finch highrise apartment and fell to his death.”
Toronto police deny that was how things played out. “At no time was there any confrontation, a ‘stand-off’ or physical contact between the officers and the man,” the force said.
The province’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), is investigating the events leading up to the fatal fall.
According to the SIU, police were called to the building at around 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 13 “for concerns of a man throwing objects from a balcony to the ground below.”
Toronto police said members of the public reported “seeing furniture and other items, including an air conditioning unit, being thrown from a top floor apartment and landing near a reported daycare on the street level.”
The SIU said that three officers attempted to negotiate with the man before they were joined by three additional officers from the emergency task force.
“In the course of negotiations, the man fell from the apartment window to the ground below,” the SIU said, adding he was declared dead at the scene.
A GoFundMe page set up by Ramroop’s sister says, “mental health is a major problem in our society today and the Toronto Police system failed him tremendously.”
The family called for the abolition of Toronto police and its replacement with “emergency responses that provide safety, care, and dignity.”
They also demanded “the release to the family of all police body camera footage, audio recordings, dashcam footage, and notes from all officers related to the October 13th response.”
Toronto police said they were “fully cooperating” with the SIU investigation and have “provided all video and audio recordings from the officers’ Body Worn Camera footage and all other information that the SIU has requested.”
Four SIU investigators and two forensic investigators have been assigned to the case, the agency said.