James Forcillo, the Toronto police officer who shot teenager Sammy Yatim nine times in late July, has been charged with second-degree murder.
Yatim took out a two-inch knife on the Dundas streetcar and told everyone to get off, leaving him alone when Forcillo shot at him nine times. After being shot, Yatim was tased. There’s video of the entire incident, which probably contributed to the swift-ish and uncommonly strong action against Forcillo.
There has only been one other case of a Toronto officer being charged with second-degree murder; Constable David Cavanagh was charged in 2012 for the 2010 death of Eric Osawe. The judge presiding over Cavanagh’s case threw out both the second-degree murder and lesser manslaughter charges.
Toronto police union president Mike McCormack had some revolting interesting thoughts on the case, which he shared with CBC News.
There’s no winners in this. It’s a lose-lose situation for the family and our officer. Our officer is definitely a casualty of this incident.
Yes, the officer who has been charged with murder for shooting someone nine times, that’s the casualty. The casualty is not, say, the 18-year-old who was shot nine times and subsequently died. The casualty is not the actual, literal casualty. That poor officer.