Mystery customer present during police killing of Ontario gunsmith files $2.6M lawsuit against TPS, family estate
CTV
An unidentified customer who was present during the fatal shooting of a Port Dover, Ont. gunsmith by Toronto police has launched a $2 million lawsuit against the service and the slain man’s estate, claiming he was placed in unnecessary danger during the November 2021 raid.
An unidentified customer who was present during the fatal shooting of a Port Dover, Ont. gunsmith by Toronto police has launched a $2 million lawsuit against the service and the slain man’s estate, claiming he was placed in unnecessary danger during the November 2021 raid.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of a customer of gunsmith Rodger Kotanko, alleges that both the Toronto Police Service (TPS) and Kotanko within his role as a business owner, put him in unnecessary danger when a warrant was executed on the Simcoe County workshop on Nov. 3, 2021.
During the raid, Kotanko was fatally shot by a Toronto police officer. He was 70-years-old.
The statement of claim was filed in August on behalf of the customer, who is only referred to as C.W. in order to protect his identity.
It alleges that C.W., as the sole customer at the time of the raid, was not informed by police of the impending warrant execution and that officers used excessive force against the two men.
It also states that Kotanko is in part to blame for his own death and the harm inflicted on C.W. by inviting his customer into an establishment allegedly involved with criminal activity.
“Fortunately, most of us can only imagine how life-changing such an event would be,” legal representative Kevin Egan, who is representing C.W., told CTV News Toronto in a statement. “My client was extremely traumatized by what he witnessed. He saw a man with whom he had just been conversing, suddenly shot to death within feet of where he stood. Police, at the same time, threatened to shoot him if he moved a muscle. Then they forced him to the ground and handcuffed him to the rear, guns still trained on him.”
