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Forcillo had many alternatives to shooting but didn’t use them: Crown expert
The Toronto Star talks about the ongoing Forcillo trial over the shooting of Sammy Yatim:
The night Sammy Yatim was shot dead on an empty streetcar by Const. James Forcillo could have gone differently if Forcillo and other officers at the scene had used any of several alternatives to lethal force, including de-escalating the situation, a Crown expert on police use-of-force tactics testified Wednesday.
The jury has seen and heard that a 50-second standoff took place with Forcillo, gun drawn, repeatedly commanding 18-year-old Yatim to drop the four-inch knife he held in his right hand. Forcillo finally said: if you take a step forward you will be shot.
On Wednesday, Robert Warshaw, a U.S.-based former police chief, testified that Forcillo had many alternatives to using lethal force at the time he fired the first three shots.
“Officer Forcillo took a position facing Mr. Yatim and, in my judgment, made no effort to have any interaction with Mr. Yatim for the purposes of creating a dialogue, for the purposes of learning anything that was on this young man’s mind,” said Warshaw, who has been appointed by the federal government to reform several American police departments with problems in excessive use of force.
“All of those opportunities to de-escalate the situation just never materialized. There was no effort.”
“There was no single asset to Officer Forcillo that was more valuable than time,” he said. Yatim was already contained on the streetcar and posed no risk to others, and neither said nor did anything to suggest he would imminently attack, Warshaw said.
The more time that elapsed, the more options Forcillo would have had to choose from — including access to a Taser or the resources of the Emergency Task Force, he said.
“The more officers that arrived, the greater the opportunity for police to come up with a de-escalation plan or a tactical plan,” Warshaw said. “There was no action plan, there was no tactical thinking, no co-ordinated effort as far as I could see,” he said.
The jury has seen and heard that a 50-second standoff took place with Forcillo, gun drawn, repeatedly commanding 18-year-old Yatim to drop the four-inch knife he held in his right hand. Forcillo finally said: if you take a step forward you will be shot.
On Wednesday, Robert Warshaw, a U.S.-based former police chief, testified that Forcillo had many alternatives to using lethal force at the time he fired the first three shots.
“Officer Forcillo took a position facing Mr. Yatim and, in my judgment, made no effort to have any interaction with Mr. Yatim for the purposes of creating a dialogue, for the purposes of learning anything that was on this young man’s mind,” said Warshaw, who has been appointed by the federal government to reform several American police departments with problems in excessive use of force.
“All of those opportunities to de-escalate the situation just never materialized. There was no effort.”
“There was no single asset to Officer Forcillo that was more valuable than time,” he said. Yatim was already contained on the streetcar and posed no risk to others, and neither said nor did anything to suggest he would imminently attack, Warshaw said.
The more time that elapsed, the more options Forcillo would have had to choose from — including access to a Taser or the resources of the Emergency Task Force, he said.
“The more officers that arrived, the greater the opportunity for police to come up with a de-escalation plan or a tactical plan,” Warshaw said. “There was no action plan, there was no tactical thinking, no co-ordinated effort as far as I could see,” he said.
Read the full article here: http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2015/11/18/officer-forcillo-had-many-alternatives-to-shooting-sammy-yatim-but-didnt-use-them-crown-expert-testifies.html