In court, James Forcillo relives, repeatedly, Sammy Yatim’s attack that never was

At some point, somebody might want to remind James Forcillo that neither he nor anyone else was actually stabbed on the night he shot and killed a knife-wielding teenager aboard an empty streetcar.

Since the police officer, who’s spent the past five days in the witness stand — three of them under sometimes combative cross-examination — is now back safe in his seat alongside defence counsel, that factual prompt might have to take place beyond the jury’s sight and hearing.

So often has the Toronto constable repeated what he visualized in those crucial seconds around midnight, July 26, 2013, that the attack which never was seems almost to have unfolded as he feared it would — Sammy Yatim lunging over the stairwell to come at him with a switchblade. That is filling in a honking huge supposition blank.

But it’s the crux of the thing, of Forcillo’s defence.  (more...)

In court, James Forcillo relives, repeatedly, Sammy Yatim’s attack that never was