Toronto cop sentenced to six years in shooting of teen on streetcar
TORONTO — A Toronto police officer who gunned down a troubled teen on an empty streetcar three years ago abused his authority in a way that undermines public trust in law enforcement and the justice system, a judge said Thursday in sentencing him to six years in prison.
In letting loose a second volley of shots on 18-year-old Sammy Yatim, Const. James Forcillo committed an “egregious breach of trust” and his sentence must serve as notice to other police officers that they should open fire “only as a last resort,” Justice Edward Then told a Toronto court.
The sentence “should not be taken to reflect adversely on the well-deserved reputation of the Toronto Police Service nor diminish in any way the respect and support individual police officers deserve for the dangerous and important work they do,” he said.
“However, when a police officer has committed a serious crime of violence by breaking the law which the officer is sworn to uphold, it is the duty of the court to firmly denounce that conduct in an effort to repair and affirm the trust that must exist between the community and the police to whom we entrust the use of lethal weapons within the limits prescribed by law.”