Ontario’s police watchdog has cleared a Toronto officer after they shot a suspect accused of stabbing a second officer in front of a Tim Hortons earlier this year.
It was on April 12 at around 1:30 p.m. when officers responded to calls about a person in crisis in front of the coffee shop near Lansdowne Avenue and College Street.
As officers tried to take the man into custody, investigators said that’s when an officer’s leg was cut. The suspect was tased twice and shot in the upper left back once by responding officers.
The suspect, 27-year-old Gabriel Escairo, was later charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with a weapon of a peace officer and aggravated assault of a peace officer, among other offences. The allegations haven’t been proven in court. There was a previous warrant for the accused at the time of the incident.
Both the officer and the suspect were stabilized and treated in hospitals for their injuries.
In an update released by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) on Friday, the civilian oversight body found there weren’t grounds to charge the officer who fired the gun.
“[The SIU’s director] was satisfied the officer who fired the gun acted to defend himself and others in the vicinity from a reasonably apprehended assault,” the update said.
“The man, having just inflicted grievous bodily harm on an officer and still in possession of the knife, was within metres of the officers and customers inside the Tim Hortons, in which direction he was turning at the time of the shooting.
“The officer would have had cause to believe that his life, the life of his partner, and the lives of those inside the restaurant were at risk of injury or death.”
With files from Lucas Casaletto and Michael Talbot