Streetcar driver testifies about final conversation with Sammy Yatim

Chad Seymour, who was driving the streetcar on which Sammy Yatim died
two years ago, leaves court on Monday.

Driver asked what he could do for him; the teen said he’d like to call his dad, Chad Seymour recalls at Const. James Forcillo’s murder trial.

Hands clasped and looking a little nervous, the TTC driver who had the last conversation with 18-year-old Sammy Yatim before he was shot eight times on an empty streetcar by Const. James Forcillo took the stand Monday afternoon.

Forcillo has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and attempted murder.

Chad Seymour, 31, had been a TTC operator for only 13 months when, shortly before midnight on July 26, 2013, he heard terrified screaming on the Dundas streetcar. Moments later he heard: “He has a knife.”

A “panicked, worried” crowd of passengers jostled by the front doors as Seymour brought the streetcar to a halt before opening the doors, he testified.

He turned his head around and, for the first time, saw Yatim walking forward at a normal pace, slim four-inch knife held in his outstretched right hand.

“Ideally I would have liked to get off the streetcar, too,” he said. “It was tough at that moment without pushing someone aside.”  (more...)

Streetcar driver testifies about final conversation with Sammy Yatim

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