TORONTO -- The province's police watchdog says no charges will be laid after investigators concluded a 23-year-old man who died during an arrest at a Toronto fast-food restaurant accidentally shot himself in the head.
The Special Investigations Unit says the Toronto police force's guns-and-gangs unit forcibly removed Zoltan Hyacinth from his car and wrestled him to the ground at the drive-through of a north-end Burger King on March 17.
It says that while Hyacinth was pinned to the ground he pulled a pistol in an apparent attempt to fire on the officers, but ended up shooting himself in the head.
The SIU says three shots were fired, with one bullet fragment later matched to Hyacinth's Ruger pistol, and not to the Glock handguns used by the arresting officers.
Director Ian Scott says in a statement that "Hyacinth was the inadvertent author of his own misfortune."
The SIU is an arm's length agency that investigates incidents involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.
"The involved officers had the lawful authority to arrest Mr. Hyacinth -- they had credible information that he was involved in a recent robbery and drug transactions, and may have been in possession of a gun," Scott said in the statement.
