TORONTO — The president of Toronto's police union says an officer's actions in arresting a suspect in Monday's deadly van attack was "one shining moment" in an otherwise horrific day.
Mike McCormack of the Toronto Police Association said the arrest, caught on videos that have been widely circulated on social media, has served as a glimmer of hope for a city caught in tragedy.
"It's one shining moment in an absolutely game-changing, abysmal, horrific day in the city of Toronto," McCormack said in a phone interview Tuesday. "The one ... positive to take away from that day was his behaviour."
With the city still on edge following Monday's midday massacre, many social media users have hailed the officer as a paragon of restraint in the face of abject terror based on footage of his tense standoff with the alleged driver. It happened not far from the stretch of Yonge Street where a man driving a van killed 10 people and injured 15 others.
In one of the videos, a man, asking to be killed, stands by a damaged white rental van and points a dark object towards the officer.
The officer refuses to shoot and repeatedly yells for the man to get down.
The suspect warns he has a gun in his pocket.
"Shoot me in the head," the man can be heard saying.
This is insane! @cp24 #toronto #cp24 pic.twitter.com/WyHtTcMbyw
— Warren (@Warren_f23) April 23, 2018
From a highrise window, another video appears to show the suspect walking backwards with his arms raised as the officer moves towards him.
The suspect eventually goes to the ground and street-level footage shows the officer kneeling over him as he lies on the pavement.
"It could have gone either way. Any time if that threat escalated, we could have had a different outcome," McCormack said of the arrest.
"He reacted to what he was seeing, what his training taught him, and we're extremely proud of him. He may have prevented additional deaths."
Video from Yonge and Finch at Toronto pic.twitter.com/YvS8GcJ8pg
— Vince (@vce7) April 23, 2018
McCormack said the officer was one of many first responders who ran towards the danger as the van mounted the sidewalk between Finch Avenue and Sheppard Avenue.
Officers pushed pedestrians out of the van's path, performed CPR and attended to "mangled" victims, said McCormack.
Even for seasoned officers, he said, the carnage was among the worst they had ever witnessed.
McCormack has been in touch with the unidentified arresting officer, who he said is overwhelmed with emotion, but eager to get back on the streets.
"He's more concerned with the victims ... than what he has done."
As of yesterday, police in the US have killed 394 people. Watching the restraint of the Toronto police officer as he was being taunted by the suspect is nothing short of remarkable. High praise to the officer. #torontoattack
— CARLA Harper 🌈❄️🌊 (@CarlaHarper0626) April 23, 2018
McCormack said that while the officer maintains his actions were "no big deal," as the adrenaline fades, he will have to face the magnitude of what he's gone through.
He confronted a man accused in an attack that left 25 people wounded or killed, and both suspect and officer lived to tell the tale, McCormack said.
"(There's) this whole notion that police officers go out and shoot first and ask questions later," he said. "Many times our officers are dealing with people in situations that's resolved in a peaceful way.
The @TorontoPolice and first responders faced danger without hesitation today, and I want to thank them for their courage and professionalism. We’ll continue working with our law enforcement partners as the investigation continues.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) April 24, 2018
"It was demonstrated in an overwhelmingly clear fashion ... what police officers are really about, and what they really do." On Twitter, users have applauded the officer for the non-violent standoff. “Wow, at how these Canadian cops brought in this suspected killer,” Stuart A Thompson, for instance, posted.
Sad for Toronto. Proud of the officer who didn’t fire. Canada, don’t listen to the pro-gun garbage coming from America in the form of insensitive jokes and sarcasm. It’s just noise. #toronto #TorontoAttack
— Jay (@jasonrosewell) April 24, 2018
What a terrible day in #toronto today. It goes to show that tragedy, and evil, exist everywhere. But the officer that refused to shoot the killer reminds me why I love being #Canadian. #torontostrong #truenorthstrong https://t.co/1GMdfWtAoc
— Teri G. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜 (@ImagesByTeriG) April 24, 2018
This Police Officer did an outstanding job, nonviolently arresting the driver who killed 10 in Toronto 👏👏
— RynheartTheReluctant (@TheRynheart) April 24, 2018
Driver: ‘I’ve got a gun in my pocket’
Officer: ‘I don’t care. Get down.’ https://t.co/a1jUgUlUOn
POLICE OFFICER 'GAVE HIMSELF THE SPACE AND TIME' IN HIGH-STAKES ARREST: EXPERTS
Experts say a powerful video of Alek Minassian's arrest reveals a textbook case of an officer defusing danger through a series of life-and-death choices based on training and a calm mind.
The footage shows an officer who police sources identified as Const. Ken Lam standing up, turning off his siren and talking clearly to the suspect, even as the dead and injured lay along Yonge Street after being struck down by a white rental van.
"This is exactly the type of de-escalation ... and response to these types of confrontations that we hope to see," said Ontario ombudsman Paul Dube.
Lam calmly holstered his revolver, held up his baton and handcuffed Minassian as he lay on the sidewalk.
"He gave himself the space and time. He assessed the threat and realized he had options other than firing his weapon."
Dube published a June 2016 report calling for increased police training on defusing dangerous situations after several high-profile deaths of people with mental illnesses who confronted officers.
He said the constable's actions are a sign that police are gaining from training that includes simulations of tense standoffs with people who are emotionally unstable.
Sammy Yatim's death in July 2013 in Toronto — where the mentally ill man was shot multiple times as officers surrounded an empty streetcar he was on — helped prompt reforms.
In recent years at least one day has been added to Toronto police in-service training on de-escalation and "dealing with people in crisis," said Mike McCormack, president of the police union in Toronto.
Meanwhile, recruits at the Ontario Police College are now receiving more training, as are a number of police forces around the province, though it's yet to be a provincewide standard, said Dube.
Christian Leuprecht, a professor at Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont., who studies policing and security issues, also said Lam's actions were "textbook" examples of the latest approaches.
The result is a suspect who is now in custody and who may be able to shed light on why the devastating incident occurred, he said.
Police say Minassian, 25, of Richmond Hill, Ont., is the lone suspect in the attack. He was charged Tuesday with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder.
Leuprecht noted how Lam only stood up after carefully observing the suspect and determining he didn't have a gun.
Lam spoke loudly and calmly, even as the suspect encouraged the officer to shoot him. When he claimed to have a gun in his pocket, Lam replied, "I don't care," and repeatedly instructed him to "Get down."
Leuprecht said Lam seemed to go further than some others might have when he decided to approach and arrest the suspect, rather than wait for backup.
"There's an impressive moment when he takes his firearm, puts it in his holster, he goes over with his baton, and he handcuffs the individual," he said.
"I think that goes above and beyond the call of duty. He could have had a knife. He could have had a suicide belt."
However, the university professor, who is currently teaching in Australia, says if the constable had waited for backup, the situation might have escalated and had a different outcome.
"The opportunity to ensure the individual could no longer pose a chance of harm to himself or to others is what that officer jumped at," said Leuprecht.
McCormack said while additional training is a factor, he knows Lam well enough to say his personality factored in.
He described him as an intelligent, relatively young officer who is highly skilled and trained.
McCormack says the constable — who is in his 30s — positioned himself well so that he could see precisely what was unfolding before him.
"By his actions he did not perceive the threat to escalate and that is why he did not use his firearm," he said.
