Toronto police officer who shot man twice in park in 2023 won't face jail time

A Toronto police officer who shot and wounded a man carrying a knife in a park in 2023 was sentenced on Friday but will not serve time in jail.

Const. Andrew Davis shot Devon Fowlin twice on Feb. 27, 2023 after he and other officers answered a high-priority call about a man swinging a knife. Davis pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm and careless use of a firearm at the Ontario Court of Justice in August.

At sentencing, Justice Michael Block said Fowlin was in a state of crisis and was homeless the morning he was shot, and the officers appeared to be acting in a panic.

Block gave Davis a suspended sentence with probation of one year for the assault causing bodily harm offence and a conditional discharge with probation of one year for the careless use of a firearm offence.

The sentence means he can keep his job as a police officer but still faces a Toronto Police Service disciplinary hearing and will also have a criminal record.

The Crown asked for a conditional sentence of 12 to 18 months to be served first as house arrest and then in the community. The defence asked for a suspended sentence, arguing Davis was a junior officer with only a year's experience and did what the lead officer told him to do that day.

According to an agreed statement of facts, the incident began when officers were called to Tretheway Park East in the area of Black Creek Drive and Trethewey Drive for a report of a man with a knife.

Two officers discharged Tasers at the man, while another officer — Davis — fired his gun twice.

At about 7:50 a.m., a person had seen Fowlin walking in a park in the area with an unleashed dog, talking to himself and "swinging a knife around, and over his head," the statement of facts said.

Fowlin had lost his job about two years prior and was living out of his vehicle at the time, having camped out in the park the night before, the document said. He had consumed cannabis before officers arrived on the scene.

When they engaged with Fowlin, he was exiting his vehicle and a sheathed knife was visible in the waistband of his left hip, the statement of facts said. The officers had body-worn cameras, which recorded the incident, the document said.

Fowlin began walking toward the officers, coming within several feet, but was told to stop moving and raise his hands, the court document said. Instead, he began to back away as one officer told him to get on the ground and "let me see your hands."

Fowlin continued back-pedaling from police with his knife sheathed when the first officer told him again to "get down on the ground," before she fired her Taser at him, the statement said. It was ineffective and Fowlin kept back-pedalling as the officers told him to drop the knife. Fowlin then unsheathed the knife and drew it to his neck.

As he cut his neck, one of the officers "advanced forward yelling, 'Oh my god, shoot him,'" the court document said.