Toronto cop charged with manslaughter in teen Chadd Facey’s death in ‘Kijiji deal gone bad’
In a rare move, Ontario's police watchdog has charged a Toronto police officer with manslaughter over the sudden death of a Black teen who died hours after a struggle" with the cop in a Brampton park.
Eight-year veteran Const. Calvin Au has been charged with manslaughter and aggravated assault in connection to the April 26, 2021 death of Chadd Facey, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said Friday. The charges stem from an off-duty confrontation that allegedly went unreported for nearly four months; Au and Toronto Const. Gurmakh Benning are facing separate discipline charges of failing to report their connection to the incident.
According to allegations previously filed in their Toronto police misconduct proceedings, Au chased and took Facey to the ground in a dispute over a Kijiji deal gone bad." The two officers then allegedly left the scene without reporting their involvement as cops; Facey died later that day in hospital.
It has been clear to our family that there was some kind of misconduct that had occurred in respect of Chadd's death," Fay Fagan, Facey's mother, said in a statement. We are happy to finally see that the officer is being held accountable for his actions."
As is typical in the rare cases when the watchdog lays criminal charges against an officer, the SIU has not detailed the evidence against Au in consideration of the fair trial interests," the watchdog said in a statement Friday. The watchdog has not released Facey's cause of death.
Peter Brauti, Au's lawyer, said in a written statement Friday: We are obviously disappointed that the SIU laid these charges but will not comment further while the matter is before the courts."
Benning has not been criminally charged.
Asha James, lawyer for Facey's family, said the charge sends a clear message that whether on duty or off-duty, police are not immune from being held accountable for their wrongful conduct."
According to the police tribunal documents - which have not been tested at the disciplinary tribunal - Au and Benning went to Brampton's Bellchase Trail and Highway 50 to buy an Apple watch from Facey; the SIU has said the men met up between 2:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. Then, believing the watch was fake, they allegedly chased him down by car and then by foot.
After taking Facey to the ground, Au allegedly held him down as the teen tried to get up.
As first reported by the Star in April, Facey - a 19-year-old psychology student and aspiring hip-hop artist - went to hospital shortly after he returned home from the confrontation. Medical records seen by the Star show that he didn't know his own name and had a hematoma" - a pooling of blood - on his head prior to being rushed to Brampton Civic Hospital around 5:35 p.m.
By 8:58 p.m., Facey had a seizure that eventually led to a code blue," meaning respiratory or cardiac arrest, according to the medical documents. He died soon after.
The hospital then contacted Peel Regional Police, which launched a sudden death investigation to determine what happened in Facey's final hours.
It wasn't until August 2021 - when a Peel investigator reviewed Facey's cellphone records, which linked him to Benning's number - that the officers' involvement was discovered, according to the police tribunal documents.
The documents allege Au and Benning had failed to report their involvement in multiple ways over several months, starting moments after the alleged takedown when they neglected to identify themselves as police officers when Gurmakh initially dialed 911 to report the altercation.
You had placed a call to 911 indicating that it was a Kijiji deal that had gone bad,' but did not identify yourself as a police officer on the call and eventually advised the call taker that the matter was resolved," according to documents outlining the allegations against Benning.
Au and Benning are then accused of failing to notify Peel Regional Police about the incident then, months later - after Peel police connected the officers to Facey - neither cop told Toronto police they were involved in an active criminal investigation," the documents allege.
It's not known if Facey ever knew Au and Benning were off-duty police officers; Fay Fagan, Facey's mom, said she was blindsided.
When I heard that police were involved, I was just numb," Fagan said in an interview last year.
Facey, a hip-hop artist who performed as DPA Face, was a loving and cherished son, brother and uncle. On the day he died, Fagan wasn't able to go to the hospital with him because of COVID-19 restrictions.
That's the most painful thing," Fagan said. He died by himself."
The SIU took over the investigation in August 2021 when the officers' involvement was discovered. The watchdog - which probes injuries, deaths and allegations of sexual assault involving police - will investigate incidents involving off-duty officers under certain circumstances, including when a cop uses police powers while off the clock, such as launching a pursuit of someone and arresting them as is alleged in this case.
In a statement Friday, Jon Reid, president of the Toronto Police Association, declined to comment because the matter is before the court, but noted: any death is tragic and impacts everyone involved."
We will continue to ensure our member is treated fairly throughout the process," Reid said.
It is rare for a Toronto police officer to be charged in a homicide. Au is the eighth Toronto officer to face manslaughter or murder charges since the SIU's founding in 1990, according to the Star's archives.
In 2013, the SIU charged former Toronto police officer James Forcillo with second-degree murder after he fatally shot teen Sammy Yatim in Toronto streetcar. The case led to one of the highest-profile murder trials in the city's recent history, and ended with Forcillo convicted of attempted murder - an outcome made possible by Crown prosecutors' rare decision to split the nine shots Forcillo had fired at Yatim in two separate volleys covering separate criminal charges. In 2018, he was sentenced to six years in jail but was granted full parole in 2020.
Toronto police officer David Cavanagh was the first Toronto police officer to face a murder charge. The emergency task force officer was initially charged with manslaughter after what police said was an accidental gun discharge from his MP5 submachine-gun during a September 2010 raid in an Etobicoke residence, a shooting that killed 26-year-old Eric Osawe. The charge was later upgraded to second-degree murder before a judge tossed the case entirely, saying the evidence pointed to an accident.
A handful of other Toronto police officers have been charged with manslaughter in the last few decades; all have been cleared. They include officer Rick Shank, charged and acquitted in the death of Hugh Dawson in 1997, and four other officers - Robert LeMaitre, Phillip Duncan, Nam-Nhat Le and Filippo Bevilacqua - who were charged and cleared of manslaughter in the death of Otto Vass in 2000.
In 2017, the SIU charged former Toronto police Const. Michael Theriault with offences including aggravated assault for the off-duty beating of Black teen Dafonte Miller, who was injured so severely his eye had to be surgically removed. Theriault was convicted of assault and sentenced to nine months in jail.
The charges against Au come six months after the SIU charged three Ontario Provincial Police officers with manslaughter after the fatal shootings of a toddler and his father in Kawartha Lakes in late 2020. OPP Constables Nathan Vanderheyden, Kenneth Pengelly and Grayson Cappus each face one count of manslaughter and criminal negligence causing death in relation to the shooting of the boy, 18-month old Jameson Shapiro.
More to come.
With files from the Star library
Wendy Gillis is a Toronto-based reporter covering crime and policing for the Star. Reach her by email at wgillis@thestar.ca or follow her on Twitter: @wendygillis