Decades-old killings, beating of Black men spark outcry around Toronto police promotion
CTV
Some members of Toronto’s Black community are raising concerns after a police officer who was cleared after killing two Black men and was accused of beating a third some three decades ago is now the head of the Toronto police’s professional standards unit.
Some members of Toronto’s Black community are raising concerns after a police officer who was cleared after killing two Black men and was accused of beating a third some three decades ago is now the head of the Toronto police’s professional standards unit.
The appointment of Supt. Rick Shank was made in the midst of a stay-at-home order during the pandemic two years ago. The professional standards unit is responsible for internal accountability and public confidence in the police.
But those goals may be much harder to reach when Shank’s history is taken into consideration, which includes a photo obtained by CTV News that shows Shank as a young constable holding up his bloody knuckles after one incident in 1997.
“The signal that you’re sending to the general public and your own police officers is you can get away with whatever you want and you’ll be rewarded,” said author and activist Desmond Cole, who wrote about the appointment last week.
In a statement, the Toronto Police Service (TPS) said the force found no misconduct in those incidents and Shank was not convicted, adding that focusing on those incidents in the 1990s misrepresents who he is both as a person and a police officer.
“Superintendent Shank has served as a police officer for over 30 years with an exemplary record and is recognized for his many contributions to policing. Over the course of his career, he has demonstrated the highest levels of professionalism, ethics and leadership, and has a record of service to the community. We stand by Superintendent Shank and his service,” the TPS said.
In 1993, Rick Shank shot and killed 20-year-old Ian Coley. Shank claimed the 20-year-old had pointed a gun at him. He was cleared by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), which found that “Const. Shank instinctively used deadly force to justifiably protect himself.”
