Ontario's police watchdog has declined to charge a Toronto police officer who deployed bean bag rounds against a man wielding a fork. the confrontation occurred on June 14 inside the Scarborough Centenary Hospital.
Two bean bag rounds and a Taser at Scarborough Centenary Hospital
The incident began at 10:31 a.m. when a 26-year-old man entered Scarborough Centenary Hospital seeking help for what he described as an attack by "other worldly forces." According to the SIU report, the man had armed himself with a fork before arriving at the facility. After he followed several people, including a physician, hospital staff alerted security personnel to intervene.
By 10:36 a.m., two Toronto police officers arrived on the scene. One officer carried a Taser, while the other, identified as the subject official, armed himself with a shotgun loaded with bean bag rounds. As the report says, the subject official fired two bean bag rounds at the man after he refused to drop the fork and began screaming at the officers.
Following the bean bag deployment, a third Toronto polce officer entered the lobby and used a Taser on the man. This sequence of force eventually allowed officers to secure the individual in restraints and transport him to the hospital's emergency department.
A Form 1 assessment and the 'other worldly forces' claim
The 26-year-old man was subsequently placed on a Form 1 psychiatric assessment, a legal mechanism in Ontario that allows a person to be held in a psychiatric facility for examination.. This followed his stated belief that he was under attack by supernatural entities, a state of mind that SIU Director Joseph Martino acknowledged as being of "unsound mind" during the encounter.
This incident reflects a recurring tension in urban policing where law enforcement is the primary responder to acute psychiatric crises. In many North American jurisdictions , there has been a push to replace traditional police responses with mobile crisis teams consisting of social workers and nurses to avoid the escalation seen at Scarborough Centenary Hospital.
Joseph Martino's ruling on the legality of the fractured sternum
Despite the man suffering a fracture of his sternum due to the police intervention, SIU Director Joseph Martino ruled that the force used was "reasonably necessary." In his report released Saturday, Martino stated that a fork could conceivably be used to harm or even kill others, justifying the officer's decision to use a shotgun to incapacitate the subject.
The SIU Director further noted that while the bean bag rounds did not immediately stop the man, they served to contain him, which ultimately facilitated the arrest. According to the report, the subject official's choice of weapon was deemed appropriate given the immediate confrontation in the hospital lobby.
Who determines the 'reasonable' use of a shotgun in a medical lobby?
While the SIU has cleared the officer, several specific details remain absent from the public record.. It is unclear whether any specialized mental health crisis intervention teams were available or summoned to Scarborough Centenary Hospital before the shotgun was deployed. Furthermore, the report does not specify if the officers attempted any non-weaponized de-escalation techniques beyond the initial demands to drop the fork.
The report primarily relies on the perspective of the officers and security personnel. There is no detailed account from the complainant reegarding the moments leading up to the firing of the bean bag rounds, leaving a gap in the narrative regarding whether the man perceived the police presence as a threat that exacerbated his psychiatric distress .
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