There were questions raised at the board meeting Thursday about just who will sit on the committee.
In the wake of the fatal Toronto police shooting of Andrew Loku, a Black mentally ill man killed in his home in 2015, the civilian police board is establishing an anti-racism committee — a direct response to a recommendation from this summer's coroner’s inquest into the controversial death.
In July, a five-member jury made 39 recommendations aimed at avoiding fatal police shootings, including that the civilian board form a committee to identify differences in how police interact with racialized people, including those in the Black community.
Loku’s three-week coroner’s inquest raised questions about the role anti-Black racism may have played in Toronto police Const. Andrew Doyle’s decision to pull the trigger; among the testimony jurors heard was that implicit bias can make a young Black man appear taller, heavier and more dangerous.
Desmond Cole on the Coroners Inquest of the Police Shooting Death of Andrew Loku. The inquest ruled today that Andrew Loku’s death was a homicide by Toronto Police Officer Andrew Doyle. The inquest cannot press charges, so Andrew Doyle will not suffer any consequences for killing Andrew Loku.
Andrew Loku was a refugee from South Sudan and a father of five. He wanted to bring the rest of his family to Canada. He had PTSD from the traumatic experience of being a child soldier.
Const. Haim Queroub says he believed his life and that of his partner, as well as the safety of the public, were in jeopardy on the night Andrew Loku was shot dead.
The rookie Toronto police officer who was just 11 weeks into the job when he became involved in a fatal police shooting expressed a heartfelt apology to family and friends of Andrew Loku, but said if he was presented with the same scenario today he wouldn't do anything differently.
In confident and measured testimony at the coroner’s inquest into Loku’s death Thursday, Const. Haim Queroub described for the first time his involvement in the July 2015 call that ended with Const. Andrew Doyle shooting Loku. At the time, Doyle had been Queroub’s coach officer, a kind of mentoring program for new recruits.
Similar to the account given by Doyle a day earlier, Queroub told jurors there was no other option but to shoot Loku as he advanced on the pair with a hammer. Queroub said Loku first raised the hammer to the height of his shoulder, then above his head and did not respond to the officers shouting at him to drop the weapon — a command known as the police challenge.
“At this point in time, I’m scared for my life. My life is in jeopardy — and not only my life, but my partner’s life and the public,” Queroub said.
Once Loku was between six and eight feet away, Queroub said he put his finger on the trigger “and had begun to squeeze when I heard the gunshots” from Doyle firing.
Unlike Doyle, who said he could not recall if Loku said anything as he walked toward the officers, Queroub said Loku did talk to them, saying: “Whatcha gonna do, come on, shoot me.”
Under questioning about both officers’ failure to attempt any de-escalation tactics instead of using lethal force, Queroub said it simply wasn’t possible. The speed at which Loku was advancing did not allow for him or Doyle to change tactics away from issuing the police challenge and move toward offering help or having only one of the officers communicate with Loku.
Anita Szigeti, the lawyer representing the Empowerment Council, an organization both for and run by people with experience with mental health challenges, asked Queroub if he would do anything differently if the exact same call came in today.
“I would react the same way, ma’am,” he responded.
Long-awaited inquest into the death of Andrew Loku will examine the final moments before the controversial July 2015 police shooting
His death provoked outrage, protests and an ambitious review of police oversight in Ontario.
Now, nearly two years after Andrew Loku was shot by a Toronto police officer, his family, friends and a coalition of rights groups hope a coroner’s inquest will, at last, fill in the missing gaps about Loku’s final moments.
“We had a lot of questions, and we didn’t have any answers about what happened that night,” Kiden Jonathan, a close friend of Loku’s who had been with him hours before he died, said this week.
The long-awaited coroner’s inquest into Loku’s death begins Monday to probe the controversial July 2015 shooting, which occurred in the hallway of an apartment building near Eglinton Ave. W. and Caledonia Rd. The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) leased units inside the building, providing housing for people with mental health challenges.
Coroner’s inquests are not held to assign blame, but to probe the circumstances surrounding a death and generate recommendations to prevent future fatalities. Loku’s inquest is expected to last three weeks and hear from 20 witnesses.
A handful of organizations have asked to participate as parties in the inquest, including the CMHA, the Black Action Defence Committee, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health’s Empowerment Council, and Across Boundaries, an organization that provides support and services to racialized communities experiencing mental health problems.
Dr. John Carlisle, the coroner presiding over Loku’s inquest, will make a ruling on which parties will get standing on Monday.
Loku, a 45-year-old father of five from South Sudan, was shot twice after police were summoned by a 911 call from a neighbour saying Loku was armed with a hammer and threatening to kill the caller’s friend.
Ontario’s civilian police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), later cleared the unnamed officer who shot Loku, concluding no criminal charge would be laid because the officer believed he needed to stop an imminent, life-threatening hammer attack.
That conclusion ran counter to an eye witness account that Loku did not pose a threat to anyone at the time of his death.
“Andrew died right in front of me. There was no reason for it,” Loku’s neighbour, Robin Hicks, told the Star shortly after the shooting.
Andrew Loku died on July 5, 2015, following a confrontation with officers in an apartment building hallway.
An inquest will be held into the death of a 45-year-old hammer-wielding man who was shot by Toronto police.
Andrew Loku died on July 5, 2015, following a confrontation with officers in an apartment building hallway.
The Special Investigations Unit found that the officer who shot him did not exceed the range of justifiable force.
The police watchdog agency says the officers had their guns drawn and repeatedly told Loku to drop the hammer as he walked towards them, but he was shot twice when he came within two or three metres of one officer.
Coroner Dr. James Edwards says the inquest will examine the events surrounding Loku’s death and the jury may make recommendations aimed at preventing similar deaths.
The inquest — set to begin June 5 — is expected to last three weeks and hear from approximately 20 witnesses.
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