Customer in store when gunsmith fatally shot suing police for $2.6M

A customer caught up in a fatal police raid at a Port Dover gun repair shop is suing Toronto police for $2.6-million, alleging negligent, unnecessary and excessive use of force by officers.

Four plaintiffs, a customer identified as CW and his three adult children, have filed a statement of claim in London court against the Toronto police services board and several others seeking damages linked to the November 2021 police shooting of gunsmith Rodger Kotanko, 70, during a raid of his workshop west of Port Dover.

CW, a man alleged to have been inside the workshop at the time Kotanko was shot dead by police, is seeking $1.5 million in general and special damages and $500,000 in punitive damages, a rare court award designed to punish defendants or deter similar behavior in the future.

The unidentified man is also seeking unspecified damages for alleged violations to his guaranteed Charter rights and freedoms.

The three other unidentified plaintiffs, described as CW’s adult children in the statement of claim, are seeking a combined $600,000 in damages under the Family Law Act. The provincial law allows family members to sue for damages stemming from their loved one’s death or serious injury, including lost income, travel expenses or out-of-pocket costs.

The lawsuit, filed in London court Aug. 18, was launched against the Toronto police services board, five unnamed police officers, a police inspector, Toronto’s police chief and Kotanko’s estate.

No statements of defense have been filed in response to the statement of claim filed in the Superior Court of Justice.

Both statements of claim, and statements of defense filed in response, contain allegations not yet tested in court.

A spokesperson for the Toronto police declined comment Friday afternoon because the matter is before the courts.

The statement of claim alleges CW had arranged to meet Kotanko to fix his handgun the morning of Nov. 3, 2021. Kotanko was more than an hour late, and CW waited in the driver’s seat of his vehicle at the property. He was not warned of the impending police raid or given an opportunity to leave by police, the statement of claim alleges.

When Kotanko arrived, CW waited with him in the workshop while the 70-year-old gunsmith completed the repair, the statement of claim alleviates. Police “without warning, burst through the doorway” with guns drawn and ordered CW and Kotanko to put their hands up, the lawsuit contends.

CW raised his hands immediately, the statement of claim contends. Kotanko, who still had CW’s under-repair gun in hand, did not raise his hands despite “repeated demands to do so,” the lawsuit alleviates.

A police officer fired four shots in “rapid succession,” knocking Kotanko off his chair, the statement of claim alleges.

“CW saw each bullet penetrate Kotanko’s body,” the lawsuit contends, adding the shooting happened in “very close proximity to CW, profoundly shocking him to witness a man abruptly and violently killed before his eyes.”

CW was handcuffed and forced face down on the ground, the lawsuit alleviated. He was “visibly shaking uncontrollably from nervous shock” and officers “demonstrated little compassion and offered no comfort or solace” in the aftermath, CW’s statement of claim contends.

The lawsuit alleges CW has experienced “extreme mental distress and suffering” in the wake of the incident, including post-traumatic stress disorder, nightmares and mental anguish. He is unable to participate in household tasks, social activities and has sustained a loss of income because of the shooting, the statement of claim alleges.

In March 2022, Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) cleared the Toronto police officer involved in the shooting of any wrongdoing, saying the officer acted in self-defence after Kotanko grabbed a pistol from the workbench and pointed it at two officers as they told him to “drop the gun.”

The report by the police watchdog said Kotanko was shot in the head, torso and hand and pronounced dead in hospital an hour after the police confrontation.

The SIU probe involved testimony from an unknown customer, who was in the workshop with Kotanko when the raid took place.

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