Toronto cop charged after shooting left man seriously injured

A Toronto police officer is facing charges in connection with the shooting of a man in a northwest city park earlier this year, according to the province’s police watchdog.

In a news release Friday, Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said Const. Andrew Davis is facing the following criminal charges:

Davis is required to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice at on Oct. 3.

The SIU said its investigation found that on Feb. 27, officers were called to a park in the area of Black Creek Drive and Trethewey Drive for a report of a man with a knife. Two officers discharged Tasers at the man, while another officer fired his gun twice.

The man, 31, was taken to hospital with serious injuries, the SIU said. No other injuries were reported.

The injured man was later identified as Devon Fowlin.

Weeks after he was injured, Fowlin spoke out about the incident, alleging police did not try to de-escalate the situation before firing at him.

Fowlin said he was walking his dog that morning with a knife in his hand, calling it “the knife I cook and live with inside of my vehicle.” His lawyer at the time said he had been experiencing homelessness. 

“I also do pray, you know, with it, so I was doing a prayer that very same morning,” Fowlin said, adding that no one else was in the park around him.

Fowlin told reporters he raised his arm while holding the knife a few times when in the area, and that the third time he did so, he saw a Honda Civic being driven by a police officer pull into the park’s parking lot.

As the officer approached him, Fowlin said he tried to walk away to get his dog inside of his own vehicle.

It was then, he said, that two police SUVs pulled into the parking lot, blocked off his vehicle, and five officers got out and lined up side by side.

Fowlin said the officers pointed their guns at him “right away.”

“They shouted one command, and immediately I felt a shot, and right after I just heard multiple shots going off,” Fowlin said. 

Fowlin said he dropped the knife and ran, before he fell in the intersection of Black Creek and Trethewey Drive.

Lawyer ‘pleased’ by SIU decision to lay charges

Fowlin’s lawyer David Shellnutt said he was “pleased to see serious charges being laid in this very concerning case.”

In a statement, Shellnut called the SIU’s decision to charge the officer “a rare step” and expressed appreciation for its “thoughtful and compassionate investigation.”

However, Shellnut said he wonders what was involved in this case that made it unique, and why similar charges were not laid by the SIU in other police shooting cases.

“This is a positive step forward for Devon and his family. However, it does not erase what happened and what he has endured, serious injuries that are both physical and psychological in nature,” Shellnut said. 

“These injuries have made the last few months since the shooting nearly unbearable. Life has been incredibly difficult…. The costs to Devon, his family and our communities runs incredibly high from incidents like this.”

The SIU investigates the conduct of law enforcement officials where death, serious injury, sexual assault, or the discharge of a firearm at a person has occurred.

The SIU says given that the matter is before the courts, and in consideration of the fair trial interests of the accused, it will not provide further comment on the investigation.  

The Toronto Police Service also declined to comment when contacted by CBC.