Sammy Yatim shooting a test of Ontario's police watchdog

Sammy Yatim had just graduated from high school before he was shot by police on a Toronto streetcar, and died.

The fatal shooting of Sammy Yatim on a Toronto streetcar — which has sparked public anger at law enforcement in Canada’s largest city — is shaping up to be a key test of Ontario’s police watchdog.

Yatim, 18, was pronounced dead at hospital shortly after midnight into Saturday, following a police shooting in a busy downtown area lined with bars.

A bystander recorded video of the altercation that suggests Yatim was alone on the empty streetcar and holding a knife in one hand when he was shot at by police nine times and then jolted with a Taser. A second video recording from a security camera on a nearby convenience store shows passengers fleeing the streetcar before police arrive.

Video of the shooting has been viewed more than a million times on YouTube, galvanizing public anger and leading to a street protest on Monday that drew hundreds of people to the site of the shooting.

The province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU), which describes itself as “an arm’s length agency that investigates reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault,” says it has assigned eight investigators to probe the circumstances surrounding Yatim’s death. And the officer who is the focus of their probe, Const. James Forcillo, has been suspended with pay.  (more...)

Sammy Yatim shooting a test of Ontario's police watchdog