Sammy Yatim boards a streetcar in Toronto on July 26, 2013, in this still image taken from surveillance video.The Canadian Press
Warning: This story contains disturbing footage
For the better part of two days in court, the jury in the trial of Constable James Forcillo has watched video images of the events that resulted in the shooting death of 18-year-old Sammy Yatim on a Toronto Transit Commission streetcar.
They have seen raw security videos from the streetcar, a business across the street, as well as "synchronized" images that combine video and audio from every source investigators obtained. The videos capture both the unpredictable and sometimes violent conduct of Mr. Yatim, as well as the angry commands by police that lasted for 49 seconds before Constable Forcillo fired the first of nine shots.
The one noticeable contrast in the images of violence, anger and panic was the actions of the operator of the TTC streetcar, who got all his passengers off the vehicle safely and calmly tried to engage Mr. Yatim before police arrived.
Constable Forcillo, 32, is on trial in Ontario Superior Court on charges of second-degree murder and attempted murder in the death of Mr. Yatim after a confrontation on a westbound streetcar in July, 2013.
The Crown said in opening arguments earlier this week that the officer did not have "reasonable grounds" to use lethal force against Mr. Yatim, who was wielding a switchblade with a 10-centimetre blade. Defence lawyer Peter Brauti told the jury his client believed police and the public outside the streetcar were at risk of serious injury.
The videos entered as exhibits at the trial capture the incident from virtually every angle, inside and outside the streetcar.
About 10 minutes after Mr. Yatim boarded the vehicle, travelling westbound on Dundas Street, he suddenly swiped his knife at one of four female passengers with Justin Bieber T-shirts, who had attended his concert that night. Mr. Yatim unzipped his pants and took out his penis.
The female passengers and nearly everyone else on the vehicle ran to the front and scrambled out the exit. A couple of passengers waited for Mr. Yatim to pass by and left by the back door.
The streetcar operator, Chad Seymour, remained inside as Mr. Yatim shouted from the top step and yelled at people outside to run away. The TTC operator asked if Mr. Yatim wanted a phone, which he said he did, to call his father. Mr. Seymour did not have one available and then walked to the bottom step calmly, looking around.
Mr. Yatim told the TTC employee he could leave. "I am not going to hold you for ransom," he said. Mr. Seymour walked back up the steps and engaged again with the young man. About three minutes after everyone else had left the vehicle, Mr. Seymour jumped out after Mr. Yatim ran suddenly to the driver's area with his knife.
Thirty seconds later, police arrived as two people rode by slowly on bicycles and looked over at the streetcar. Constable Forcillo and other officers were situated about three metres outside the entrance of the vehicle. They repeatedly shouted to Mr. Yatim to drop the knife. He refused, stood near the edge of the top step, with the weapon held upwards like a candle.
After the young man walked back about one row of seats in the streetcar, then to the front step area again, Constable Forcillo fired the first volley of three shots. Standing immediately next to Constable Forcillo at this moment was a colleague, with his hands at his sides and his gun in his holster.
Constable Forcillo fired six more shots while Mr. Yatim was prone on the floor of the streetcar. The officer is then seen attempting to enter the streetcar, but he is restrained by a colleague who is heard yelling "get back" and then pulls out his gun and yells "drop the knife" at Mr. Yatim, who by this point has been paralyzed and fatally wounded.
The trial resumes on Monday.