Regis Korczynski-Paket’s family has filed a $ 10 million civil lawsuit in connection with her death.
Korczynski-Paket died after falling from the balcony of her High Park apartment while police in Toronto were at her home on May 27, 2020.
The June 27 lawsuit named the city of Toronto, five Toronto police officers who were at the scene that night, the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC), the Attorney General of Ontario, and Joseph Martino of the Special Investigations Division. Ontario (SIU).
SIU cleared the police officers involved in the incident, saying that although their efforts to de-escalate the situation had failed, none of them had broken the law.
The civil case alleges, in part, that officers deliberately misled the SIU investigation as well as the Office of the Independent Director of Police Review (OIPRD), and also shared false information about Korczynski-Paket after her death.
Jason Bogle, the lawyer representing the family, told a news conference Wednesday afternoon that the facts published by officials in the case did not match what was recorded on a surveillance video.
The OIPRD family’s complaint states that no one in the family has seen a police officer act in a way that indicates that they are following de-escalation techniques or acting in mental health training.
In particular, Bogel cited a surveillance video that he said officers arrived at the scene with an assault weapon and removed the weapon at a time when there were “more than enough officers” to turn to Korczynski-Paket. without him.
The presence of the weapon – combined with the number of employees present in the apartment and the non-fulfillment of the de-escalation tactics – contributed to Korczynski-Paket’s death, her family said in the lawsuit.
Bogle said Martino was named in the case because of a press release he published that did not match the “physical evidence” provided by SIU investigators.
The family also said in the case that it had suffered “serious emotional stress” because of what it called “deliberately creating misleading, inaccurate facts.”
Judicial review is scheduled for October
Meanwhile, TCHC was named because it manages the building, 100 High Park Ave., where Korczynski-Paket lived.
The case alleges that Korczynski-Paket and her mother repeatedly asked to put a guardrail on the balcony of their apartment on the 24th floor, but these requests were ignored. This is not an isolated incident, the lawsuit claims, but it reflects the TCHC’s “failure to respond to its concerns and request for residence on time.”
The lawsuit alleges that the city of Toronto is also responsible for not properly overseeing the TCHC, which is owned by the city.
No one named in the lawsuit filed a statement of defense as of Wednesday afternoon. They have 20 days to file one after it is served.
Meanwhile, Korczynski-Paket’s family must also attend a judicial review in federal court in October to evaluate the OIPRD’s decision not to prosecute any of the employees involved in the incident.
Add Comment