In one of my last posts I looked at the tragic case of Sammy Yatim who was killed on a Toronto streetcar by police officer James Forcillo.Who shot the troubled teenager barely a minute after arriving on the scene, rather than take the time to negotiate…
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Politics and its Discontents: A Further Reflection
At the risk of seeming a tad obsessed about James Forcillo, I feel compelled to do yet another post on him and Sammy Yatim, the troubled teen he recklessly and needlessly gunned down three years ago. We all know there is a great deal of injustice in th…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Skating Party For Forcillo
What many of us feared has happened. James Forcillo has been granted bail:Justice Eileen Gillese’s decision was released to counsel by email this morning.“The Appellant’s release, pending the determination of his appeal, poses no risk to the publ…
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Sammy Yatim and the Day of Justice
It's been three years and one day since 18-year-old Sammy Yatim was shot to death on a Toronto streetcar by police officer James Forcillo.But yesterday his killer was finally sentenced.A Toronto police officer who gunned down a troubled teen on an…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Forcillo Is Sentenced, But Is It Justice?
Toronto police officer James Forcillo, who gunned down Sammy Yatim three years ago, has been given six years for his despicable act. Is it justice? I don’t know.Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: I’m Just A Poor Boy, Nobody Loves Me
That famous line from Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody might have been the inspiration, and is certainly the subtext, for James Forcillo and his lawyer’s pleas that poor baby James be allowed to serve whatever sentence is passed down to the killer of Sammy Ya…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Policing: A Contrast In Methodologies
We’ve all seen the videos depicting the murder of Sammy Yatim at the hands of Toronto police officer James Forcillio. Although Forcillo has been held to partial account for his foul deed, most realize, I think, that things didn’t have to end the tragic…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: More On Alex Wettlaufer, Toronto’s Latest Young Person Killed By Police
If we are given to even modest introspection, it seems inevitable that the longer we live, the more we develop an increasing appreciation not only for the wonder of life but also its shortness and fragility. The older we get, the more we are witness to…
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Killing of Sammy Yatim: Should Another Cop Be Charged?
It's been almost a week since the Toronto police officer James Forcillo was found guilty of the attempted murder of 18-year-old Sammy Yatim. Even though he killed him, and it was murder.And now there are calls for another police officer to be ch…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: To Serve And Protect Who?
Were I so inclined, I could probably devote this blog solely to police misconduct, so extensive does it seem. Perhaps it is due to the Forcillo conviction for the attempted murder of the late Sammy Yatim that we are more sensitive to the issue, but eac…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: More On James Forcillo
H/t Toronto StarIn response to yesterday’s post, both the Salamander and the Mound of Sound offered some interesting commentary. The Salamander has experience in dealing with troubled and armed youth, as you will see, and The Mound has had careers both…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Not A Moment Of Humility Or Uncertainty
I have avoided writing about the semi-acquital of Sammy Yatim’s killer, Officer James Forcillo, partly because it sickens me when miscarriages of justice occur. Adding insult to injury is his lawyer’s attempt to get his conviction for attempted murder …
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Police Murder of Sammy Yatim: The Shocking Verdict
It's one of the most bizarre verdicts I've ever seen. A Toronto police officer is found guilty of attempted murder for shooting a troubled teenager on a streetcar.But not guilty of murder.Even though he killed him.Read more »
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Remembering Sammy Yatim
To listen to James Forcillo, the Toronto police officer who shot Sammy Yatim eight times as the knife-wielding teen stood inside an empty streetcar, he had no choice but to kill him:”If I had done nothing, he would have stabbed me,” Const. James Forcil…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Respect, Fear, and Loathing
If we are completely honest, many of us will admit to a deeply ambivalent relationship with the police. On the one had we look to them for protection against the less ordered elements of society, but on the other hand, in the deeeper recesses of our psyche, we also fear
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Wouldn’t A Taser Have Been More Appropriate?
I have often thought that had the video evidence not been so strong and graphic in the shooting of Sammy Yatim, the ‘official’ police story would have been that the disturbed 18-year-old had lunged at officers and thus had to be killed. What the video apparently showed, however, was what
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Police Officer Charged in the Killing of Sammy Yatim
It was one of the most sickening things I have ever witnessed, the police execution of Sammy Yatim.A teenager riddled with bullets on a streetcar for no sane reason. And then tasered as he lay there bleeding.It was brutal, it was senseless, it was madness.So I couldn't be happier about
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Sammy Yatim’s Accused Killer Back On The Job
While the presumption of innocence is fundamental to our justice system, common sense and public sensibilities are always unspoken elements of the equation. This is clearly seen, for example, in jury selection, a good part of which is designed to ferret out and exclude from participation those with prejudgments that
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Do Police Have The ‘Right Stuff’?
Given the killing of people like Sammy Yatim and Steve Mesic and the taser takedown of Iole Pasquale, it would seem a legitimate question to ask, as Star readers offer their views: SIU ruling on Tasered senior yet another shock, Oct. 11 Maybe Toronto Police Service just needs to hire
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Your Morning Jolt
Most people get their morning jolt from their breakfast cup(s) of coffee. As I wrote earlier this week, an 80-year-old woman, now identified as Iole Pasquale and suffering from dementia, got her jolts at 3:30 a.m. from two police taserings while walking along a road in Mississauga with a bread
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