Reodica Inquest: Final 2-weeks of Testimonies, Jury Verdict and Recommendations

Published in BALITA of 16 October 2006 on page 4.
By: Marlene Mogado

After 47 witnesses and 10 weeks of testimony, the 4-member jury at the Coroner’s inquest on the shooting death of 17-yearr old Jeffrey Reodica finally issued its verdict.

BALITA was there to cover the finale, having sat through the process from the beginning in May 8 until October 13, 2006.

The inquest cannot make findings of civil or criminal responsibility. Its main purpose is to make recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future.

It heard that plainclothes officer Dan Belanger shot Jeffrey Reodica three times in the back on May 21, 2004. He died three days later at Sunnybrook Hospital & Women’s College Health Centre in Toronto.

The shooting was preceded the day before by a fight between two groups of youths – “one white, the other mostly Filipino.”

Before going to the verdict and recommendations, let’s look at testimonies of experts and resource witnesses introduced during the last two weeks of the inquest to assist the jurors reach their decisions.

Gun a prohibited firearm

A firearms examiner at the Ontario Centre of Forensic Sciences, Ms Calamita, had examined the firearm and clothing of Jeffrey.

She testified that since there was “no gunpowder residue” found she concluded that Jeffrey was shot at a distance “greater than 4 feet”, or “unless the clothing was mishandled.”

She also said the semi-automatic handgun Glock 27 model was a “prohibited firearm” under the Criminal Code Act of Canada, Sect 84, because it had a barrel length of 87.2 mm (less than required 105 mm) and its bullet “fragments” causing unnecessary damage to its target, hence not suitable for police purposes. When asked if police are allowed to carry the weapon, Calamita’s response was “not 100% sure.”

Cause of death: “Anoxic head injury”

Dr. Sandro Rizoli, staff surgeon at Sunnybrook, headed the trauma team that attended on Jeffrey.

He clarified that their “first goal was to identify all injuries that are life threatening.” In Jeffrey’s case, the bullet wound in his upper back was the team’s priority. The bullet had fractured his C2 spinal cord, lodging near his brain stem causing shock and bleeding in the brain. Rizoli said this alone would have made him a “quadriplegic” had he survived.

He emphasized death was inevitable once the bullet went across Jeffrey’s spine because it would have shut off oxygen to his brain. “CPR and chest compressions did not make a difference, unless intubation was performed immediately”, he said.

Asked to explain inconsistencies in the medical reports, Dr. Rizoli offered these might have been “errors in transcribing.” While the radiologist reported the cause of death as “severe closed head injury,” to Dr. Rizoli it was “anoxic brain injury” or “lack of oxygen to the brain.”

With regards to the facial and head injuries of Jeffrey reported by the pathologist that was not included in his report, Dr. Rizoli admitted these might have been caused by the “stiff collar” used to immobilize Jeffrey when he was transported to the hospital. He said the shoulder injury “could have been caused by the straps used on the fracture board” although the boards “rarely cause injuries, odds are small.”

Another error in the reports refers to a second bullet recovered from Jeffrey’s body 2 days after the shooting- there was none.

“Jeffrey running away when shot”

The first witness at the inquest came back for cross-examination. Forensic pathologist Dr. Parai’s testimony was consistent with Dr. Rizoli as to the cause of death- i.e. “lack of oxygen to the brain.”

Dr. Parai explained that the different paths of the bullet wounds inside Jeffrey’s body indicated that both Jeffrey and Belanger were moving, and “Jeffrey was running away when shot.”

“Other options should have been done to test for fingerprint”

The fingerprint expert’s role in the Reodica case was to “make sure everything was attended to, but was not directly involved in the gathering of evidence.”

Richard Bunting worked with the Toronto Police Services Forensic Identification Services for 20 years gathering fingerprints in crime scenes until he retired in 2005. He said only “10% out of 4% on fingerprints is identifiable on knives” (much smaller in guns). Fingerprints “have a lifespan even after 30 years, unless they are removed by an outside influence… cold hands; the rougher the surface of the knife makes it more difficult; packaging; mishandling; humidity, and temperature can affect the detection of fingerprints,’ he added.
Mishandling could have compromised the integrity of the knife found at the scene since the SIU investigator packed it in plastic, then wrapped it in paper bag on another occasion.

“The best practice is to put the knife in a box or placed in clear tubes… glove prints can also be detected on a knife surface, but wasn’t done. When you cannot detect fingerprints, further testing is required and other options should be considered. This should have been done,” he said.

Community Relations Officer Constable Doug Ord

In 16 years as Liaison Officer, Toronto Police Constable Doug Ord has built extensive positive community relations with the Asian communities. Well known specially in the Filipino community, he admitted “courses on multiculturalism and diversity” and personal charm helped in his work but he had no specialized training on the Filipino community in particular. His fruitful involvement is capped by a trip to the Philippines a few years back, certificates of appreciation from various Filipino organizations, and membership as Commander in the distinguished international brotherhood of Knights of Rizal.

He described Filipinos as “well-educated, well-spoken in English, found all over the world,” but when asked where Filipinos are settled locally he said, “mostly in St. Jamestown and Bathurst.”

Queried on any backlash from Jeffrey’s shooting, he responded, “yes they are not the same, I have not been trusted, not invited to a lot of events.” This could be a reflection of the regular perception of police in the home country, he said. “They think of police as murderers… we have to change this, it’s a very cultural thing… Along with the Filipino penchant for protests like what they do in the Philippines, here it affects funding of organizations. Mainstream funders are looking at it…some of the problems are left for the courts to unravel,” he added.

Soon to retire, Constable Ord’s advice to his successor is “to continue outreach work with the Filipino community.”

Impact on Filipino community

The Jeffrey shooting has had the most impact on the Filipino and Asian communities the most, according to Nora Angeles, resource witness on the “impact of racism and youth violence” for the Canadian Alliance on Social Justice.

With extensive involvement in anti-racism and anti-oppression work, Angeles urged governments and schools to be more involved on anti-racism initiatives “to continue earning the trust from the community to these institutions”.

After each traumatic event against the Filipino community, the politicalization or awareness increases up a notch and more of us get mobilized and involved with social justice issues, she said. This was true with the Scarborough Town Centre incident, and now with the Jeffrey shooting, she added.

Finally, the Verdict of the Coroner’s Jury

Cause of death – Gunshot wound to upper back with penetrating injury to spinomedullary junction

By what means – HOMICIDE

JURY RECOMMENDATIONS

(These recommendations are not necessarily in order of priority.)

The Toronto police Service should study and determine whether outfitting unmarked police services with sirens, and/or “cherries”, and/or Public Address System and/or “Police” jackets, and/or “Police” armbands would be useful, cost effective and practical means to enhance identification of plain clothes officers, when required. The item(s) should be installed in such a way as to keep the undercover officers safe, secure and subversive.

Rationale: Testimony has shown that there was great controversy surrounding the attending officers identifying themselves.

The Toronto Police Services should require all plain clothes officers when responding to calls for service, now taking the role of “uniform officers” to take with them, by whatever means possible, all use of force options when exiting their vehicles.

Rationale: When the plain clothes officers respond to a call for service, if they have all of their use of force options on them, it will give the officers greater flexibility in their choice of options to accomplish the task at hand.

Parents or guardians of youths, who are being detained for the purpose of an interview by the police and/or SIU, should be notified as soon as practicable.

Rationale: Testimony has shown that most of the youths, aged 12 to 16 years, were detained by the police to be interviewed by the SIU. Some youths were at the police station for over 8 hours (approximately from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.) feeling tired, scared and hungry. As a result of this, it could have affected their statements.

Parents or guardians should be notified where the youths are and why they are being detained.

Community Liaison Officers should continue their practice of building up relationships and establishing trusts between themselves and the communities.

Rationale: This established relationship/trusts should encourage the community to approach the police for help. The communities will work with the police in resolving problems/conflicts occurring within the community before they escalate.

All maps and charts produced for the benefit of the participants of a coroner’s inquest should be such that their scale measurements are reliable, accurate and precise.

Rationale: The graphics in the exhibits were not to scale, therefore, witnesses were confused and their testimony may have been affected. It also caused some confusion for the jury.

The 911 transcripts should provide the precise time of the calls made when introduced at a coroner’s inquest.

Rationale: It was extremely confusing for the jury and some of the participants for not having the “precise time of calls” on the 911 transcripts.

The Ontario Police College should reinstate control training in their curriculum with regards to the expandable baton.

Rationale: It has been mandated that all police officers must be issued, amongst other items expandable batons and as such they should have the required training to understand when and how to use it, along with the striking option.