photo credit: The Toronto Star
I have so much to say since Toronto Police Service’s Constable James Forcillo was convicted of attempted murder in the 2013 shooting death of 18-year-old Sammy Yatim. I’m prepared to be a pariah, as I may be seen that way after expressing my opinion.
A quick history
Yatim was on a Toronto streetcar, high as a kite, and whipped his penis out and started masturbating in front of a group of women in the back of the streetcar. He then took a switchblade (illegal in Canada) and attempted to slash one of the girl’s throats. She managed to block the attack with her purse. Moments later everyone from the streetcar emptied onto the street, leaving Yatim on the streetcar pacing back and forth alone, still with knife in hand.
When police arrived, Yatim was screaming things at them, like “pussies” and “pigs”, while the responding officers repeatedly commanded him to drop the knife. Instead of complying Yatim, advanced on the officers, and was subsequently shot 9 times and killed.
There are a few sticking points that I’d like to talk about, as this situation has caused significant public outcry in defense of Sammy Yatim and criticism of Toronto Police – specifically James Forcillo.
Some of the things that the public say were uncalled for were:
- Shooting Yatim in the first place instead of many other force options (eg. bean bag shotgun, tazers, riot shields, etc.)
- Shooting Yatim several times after he was already shot and downed.
- A reminder that James Forcillo had drawn his firearm 12 times while on duty in the last 3 years.
I would like to suggest that unless you’ve had a knife pulled on you or seen what a knife can do, you have no clue what you’re talking about (and the jury probably also had no clue). You don’t grasp the magnitude of danger a knife-wielding assailant poses; Nor how much that danger can be enhanced when the assailant is drugged or mentally ill.
Mental illness and substance abuse make someone unpredictable. Think about how you might react to a situation like this if you were the first office on scene.
You’re responding to a call about a knife-wielding attacker on a streetcar. When you arrive the attacker still has his knife in hand, taunting you while your firearm is drawn and pointed at him. Every command you issue to drop the knife is met with “fuck you pussy”, ” fucking pig.” Then he advances. What would you do?
A knife is lethal force. Yatim demonstrated intent and ability to kill (again, knife still in hand while advancing). Because of this, after 5 days of jury deliberation, the original charges of 2nd degree homicide and manslaughter were dismissed. As Forcillo did, however, get convicted of attempted murder – and due to the severity of this charge – the lesser charge of aggravated assault was dropped.
Security camera footage from the streetcar now released to the public shows police entering the streetcar after the shots were fired, and kicking the knife out of Yatim’s hand. This occurred after the extra shots were fired once Yatim was already downed.
Excited delirium is a condition that has allowed many criminals to have superhuman strength, and in some cases take shotgun blasts or multiple revolver shots and still fight until they bleed out. If Yatim was down, but still had a knife in his hand (again, the officer kicked it away upon entry), he could have potentially stabbed an officer, possibly in the femoral artery. A stab wound to the femoral artery has the potential to be fatal in minutes. This isn’t a far-fetched conclusion.
Use of Force
For those that say that the officer was too quick to shoot, should have backed up and increased the distance, don’t understand real violence and intent. You advance on a threat, removing their capacity to attack. Giving them more space is irresponsible, as it gives the assailant more opportunity to attack.
The chances of a bullet passing through and hitting a bystander increases if Yatim was let out of the streetcar.
As for tazing him, only police supervisors are equipped with Tasers. Forcillo is not a supervisor; a Taser was not an immediate option.
Wait for riot shields and board the streetcar? Haven’t seen the movie 300 have you? The first officer through the door is the first casualty, usually suffering the first stab or slash wound.
Bean bag shotgun? Knife is lethal force. And Forcillo didn’t have one at his disposal.
“Police in the UK don’t shoot and take threats down with pepper spray.” Because they don’t have guns, and I bet your tune would change when UK cops get mowed down by semi and fully automatic weapons that criminals don’t seem to mind using.
As for Forcillo’s history of pulling out his firearm, let’s look at this logically. If an average police officer works a 40-hr. week (likely probably more), and responds to 3 calls a day, that means in a 5-day work week an average officer responds to 15 calls a week. If you take two weeks out for vacation, that’s about 750 calls a year. In three years that’s 2250 calls. This is an conservative estimate. So, Forcillo drew his firearm 12 out of 2250 times. That means his gun came out in 0.5% of his calls (we already know this is a conservative estimate). With the increase in Toronto gun and knife crime, how unreasonable does that sound to you? In my view, it sounds very reasonable. Trigger happy? I think not, for a frontline officer.
Final Thoughts
I don’t care about bleeding hearts and compassion here. The fact remains that a disturbed person tried to sexually assault, injure, or kill another human being.When told by police to drop his weapon, he taunted them and advanced, leading to his death. To be sure he was no longer a threat, Forcillo shot him (as the first responder, Forcillo was lead officer; he was on point and everyone else was to follow suit) several more times. Again, the onus was on Forcillo to act, and he did for his own safety, for the safety of his colleagues, and for the safety of the public waiting on the street.
On top of all of this, we have to remember that police are not immune to the shitstorm of a limbic system “fight or flight” response; causing loss of logical thought, and loss of a large portion of motor skill.
I believe James Forcillo acted appropriately, even if a judge and jury didn’t come to that conclusion.
It’s a sad day for justice. In fact, there is no justice here. The only justice occurred in 2013 when a young monster was stopped before he had a chance to became an older monster.
I know most will still be critics and use of force “experts” from the comfort of their couches and office jobs, while police will still go out every day and face the risk of death to protect those critics. That is why they are heroes.
Below are video links and the Canadian National Use-of-Force Model you can observe to help you make up your own mind:
Preview YouTube video Toronto Streetcar shooting July 2013 CCTV Security Footage Sammy Yatim
Preview YouTube video Toronto officer’s trial sees video of Sammy Yatim shooting
Preview YouTube video TTC surveillance camera 4
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