Today the trial of the year in Canada came to a close, and yet another cop has gotten away with murdering a civilian — despite the murder having been caught on eight different videos.
I wrote a diary with a detailed background of the case and the trial Wednesday when the jury began their deliberations, but I will provide a very short version again here. I would urge people to read the diary for a detailed explanation of what transpired — this is not an easy case legally and the trial has been front page news for the last four months with shocking daily updates including catching police in blatant lies.
Forcillo was acquitted of both murder and manslaughter, but convicted of attempted murder for the second volley of bullets (see the diary above or background below for an explanation of what the nature of the murder).
First, live breaking news can be found at:
1.) Twitter of the Toronto Star’s court reporter.
2.) CTV News live coverage.
3.) CBC News live coverage.
Second, the entire incident was captured on multiple different cameras. Warning: the videos below are graphic.
Video #1: Yatim exposes himself, draws his knife and passengers flee the streetcar.
Video #2: An enhanced version of the civilian video of the incident taken at an angle from which you cannot see Yatim but can see the police and the shots.
Video #3: The definitive video of the incident was an exhibit during the trial. Split screen with the two best angels from streetcar security cameras and audio from police radio.
Video #4: TTC Surveillance video #1.
Video #5: TTC Surveillance video #2.
Video #6: TTC Surveillance video #3.
Video #7: TTC Surveillance video #4.
Video #8: Store Surveillance video in split screen with civilian video for sound (as store video is black and white and without sound).
Brief Background
Early in the morning of July 27, 2013 Sammy Yatim boarded a street car in the west end of Toronto. He was high on ecstasy, cocaine and marijuana. He exposed himself to female passengers and then slashed at them with a small (three inch) knife. The passengers fled leaving Yatim alone on the streetcar as a crowd gathered outside and police were called.
After a fifty second standoff in which Yatim never got off the streetcar or closer than 12 feet to police, Officer James Forcillo shot Sammy Yatim nine times in two seperate volleys. The first volley of three shots were the fatal ones. They paralyzed Yatim from the chest down and pierced his heart. Despite this, moments later Officer Forcillo fired six more slow and deliberate shots (five of which actually hit Yatim). He would later testify that he thought Yatim was “renewing the attack”. Officer Forcillo was charged with a separate count of attempted murder for the second volley.
Thankfully the entire incident was captured By a bystander on his cellphone. It was uploaded to Youtube the same night and the case immediately became the top story in the country. The original civilian video with various different audio and video enhancements has been seen 2.5 million times on Youtube. The streetcar also had four separate surveillance cameras, and the incident was caught on the security camera of a nearby store.
If a murdering police officer cannot be convicted in Canada even when caught on eight different videos, what hope is there in the United States?