Internal review clears Toronto police officer who tried to download video of Andrew Loku's death

Toronto Police Services has no plans to discipline any officers involved in the fatal shooting of Andrew Loku last July, despite concerns raised by the province's Special Investigations Unit that one of them tried to download surveillance video of the crime scene.

• Ontario calls inquest into police shooting death of Andrew Loku
• Toronto officer who fatally shot Andrew Loku won't be charged, SIU says

Chief Mark Saunders's internal review of the third-party investigation into his officers' conduct on July 5, 2015, when they encountered Loku — wielding a hammer in the hallway of an apartment building — found that no one breached the police regulations or the credibility of the SIU's probe. 

The unnamed officer's attempt to download video footage from the hallway camera "was appropriate scene management and evidence preservation," says the internal review, led by the force's professional standards unit.

The SIU found that the video had not been tampered with, the review notes.

No 'adequate' explanation

But the SIU still chastised the officer involved in allegedly trying to download surveillance video that captured the fatal police shooting of the father of five.

"I have not as yet heard an adequate explanation for such conduct," SIU director Tony Loparco wrote in his report to Ontario's attorney general in March. "This case is another example in which the post-incident conduct of some TPS officers threatened to publicly compromise the credibility of the SIU's investigation."

That credibility was critical, as the black man's death sparked a backlash against police and questioned how to determine appropriate use of force against those of marginalized backgrounds like Loku, who also suffered from mental health issues.

The Black Lives Matter organization called for charges to be laid against officers who responded to the 911 call — something the SIU ruled against when it released its independent investigation in March. Black Lives Matter also called for the officers involved in the shooting to be publicly named.

None of the organizers from Black Lives Matter could be reached Saturday.

The province has announced it will conduct a public inquest into Loku's death — and those names may become part of the public record when that happens.

But none of the officers involved in the shooting are identified in the chief's administrative review, which will go before the police board at its June 17 meeting.

A police board may choose to make the chief's report public but is not required to do so by law. The report included in the Toronto police board's agenda is believed to be the first time such a report has been publicly released.

There are no recommendations going before the board, however, except to "accept the report."

The report delved into the policies governing arrest, use of force, medical emergencies or firearms — and it found that the current guidelines "provided the involved officers with appropriate direction and that all involved officers were [both] in compliance and acted appropriately."

'An aura of suspicion'

A spokesman for the SIU would not comment on the internal review's findings, saying instead that the director, Loparco, already commented publicly when he released his own investigation.

The unit's former director, Ian Scott, said in April, however, that he found it unusual for an officer to try to access video surveillance of the scene.  

"You end up with potentially a compromise in the integrity of the investigation," Ian Scott said. "It creates an aura of suspicion and you don't want that."

Scott, who led the SIU from 2008 to 2013, said the current director should contact the chief with a complaint.