The criminal trial of a Toronto police officer charged with assault, in connection with an altercation with a 19-year-old who died in the hours following the 2021 incident, began in a Brampton court Monday.
Const. Calvin Au faces a charge of assault causing bodily harm at the judge-alone trial after the death of Brampton man Chadd Facey. The charge stems from an incident on April 26 of that year, which police tribunal hearing documents say arose from a “Kijiji deal gone bad” for what turned out to be a fake Apple watch.
Au, who had been with the force for eight and a half years before he was suspended in the wake of the off-duty incident, was initially facing charges of both manslaughter and aggravated assault.
A Ministry of the Attorney General spokesperson confirmed to CBC News that the trial is now proceeding solely on an assault causing bodily harm charge, which, according to The Toronto Star, was prompted by a change in forensic pathology witnesses.
Facey’s sister, Ranae, testified Monday and told the court what she saw after her brother was brought home in a car by some friends following the incident.
“They told me Chadd was unable to feel his legs. He was cold,” she said. “I went to the car, I saw his eyes rolling back in his head in and out of consciousness … when he could speak he’d say he can’t feel his legs, and ‘I’m cold.'”
Au was initially charged with manslaughter and aggravated assault after a Special Investigations Unit investigation, but those charges were recently downgraded to a single charge of assault causing bodily harm. (The Canadian Press)
She also said that once paramedics arrived and removed Facey from the car he made a “big screaming noise,” and that’s when she saw “a hematoma the size of a quarter” in the middle of his forehead. An agreed statement of facts in the case says a “bump” was found on his forehead.
Facey died in hospital later that day, but the statement of facts also says the Crown “is not in a position to allege that Facey’s death was caused by the interaction with Au.”
Toronto police disciplinary documents, which have yet to be tested at the tribunal, lay out what allegedly happened during the incident.
According to those documents, on that day in April, Au and a second officer — Const. Gurmakh Benning — were both off duty when they travelled to Brampton for a meeting with Facey, who had been advertising an Apple watch for sale on Kijiji.
Right after the transaction, Au realized the watch was counterfeit. That’s when, the documents allege, Benning drove his car in the direction Facey was last seen, eventually catching up to him. Benning said the watch was fake and he wanted his money back, but Facey continued to run, according to the tribunal.
This court sketch depicts, from left to right, the mother of the victim, Au, defence lawyer Alexa Banister-Thompson and Justice Jennifer Woollcombe. (Pam Davies/CBC)
Au then got out of the vehicle and ran after Facey, eventually catching up with him. Benning told Facey to give him back his money and reached for it while Au “took the male to the ground,” the documents say.
Au was “engaged in a struggle” with Facey while they were on the ground, with the officer trying to “maintain physical control” as Facey tried to get up, according to the tribunal. A second man then approached the area and both officers ran to their car and drove away, the documents say.
The trial continues Tuesday.