The province’s Special Investigations Unit has cleared two Toronto police officers who shot and seriously injured a 45-year-old woman who was suffering from a mental health crisis inside her North York home last year.
Paramedics were called to a ground floor apartment on Edmonton Drive, south of Finch Avenue and Highway 404 on Nov. 16 at 10:15 p.m.
The SIU says the paramedics entered the woman’s kitchen but were chased away by the woman, who was holding a large meat cleaver.
Two police officers then arrived and entered the woman’s home. Investigators said they were aware the woman was depressed and suicidal. She had also threatened her son inside the home.
The officers entered the home moving shoulder to shoulder with their firearms drawn. Investigators say the woman was still holding the meat cleaver at this point and apparently unaware of the officers’ presence. The woman’s son was nearby, crying.
The woman then poured herself a glass of water, ignoring the officers’ request for her to drop the meat cleaver.
About a minute later, the SIU said the woman charged at the officers with the meat cleaver held above her head.
The officers fired at her three times each, while unbeknownst to them; a third officer behind them levelled a conducted energy weapon at her and fired at the same time.
Bullets struck her abdomen, pelvis and right arm.
Paramedics then entered the home and started to assist her. Investigators said the woman’s son exited the home before the shooting took place.
Both officers who fired their weapons submitted their duty notes to SIU investigators. Ten civilian witnesses were interviewed, along with two other witness police officers.
Investigators reviewed radio transmissions, 911 dispatches and an in-camera cruiser recording of the night’s events. They also recovered bullets from the woman removed during surgery and the officers’ firearms.
Acting SIU Director Joseph Martino said in his report that the woman’s conduct left the officers no choice but to fire their weapons.
“Confronted with a potentially lethal knife attack, and with only fractions of a second to react as the woman rushed in their direction with the knife in hand, I am satisfied that the officers legitimately believed their lives to be in imminent peril and acted reasonably to defend themselves when they discharged their weapons,” he wrote.
The SIU is called to investigate any interaction between an Ontario police officer and a member of the public that results in death, serious injury or an allegation of sexual assault.
