A witness at a coroner’s inquest into the death of Junior Alexander Manon, who died in police custody in 2010, said Tuesday that the teen was struck on the head by an officer and put in a chokehold by another minutes before he died.
Shawn Williams testified that he was turning on to Founders Rd. after picking up his wife from her job at York University around 6:30 p.m., May 5, 2010, when Manon ran in front of their car.
Williams says he watched as one officer grabbed Manon and brought him to the ground, while the other hit him with what looked like a police radio and then crouched down and kneed him in the ribs.
The 18-year-old had run from Const. Michael Adams and Sgt. Stuart Blower moments before, after they tried to arrest him during a traffic stop on Steeles Ave. W.
Manon ran south and down Founders Rd. before he was caught by the officers, who tackled him to the ground. He died there of “positional asphyxia,” according to the province’s chief forensic pathologist, Dr. Pollanen.
An investigation completed by the Special Investigations Unit last January cleared the two officers. An SIU news release said that during the struggle “pressure was placed on (Manon’s) chest in a manner that could have caused it to compress and interfere with his breathing, a classic indicia of death caused by positional asphyxia.”
Legal wrangling over evidence has delayed the testimony of Const. Michael Adams, who was scheduled to testify last week.
On Tuesday, Coroner Dan Cass will hear submissions from the family’s lawyer as well as a lawyer for the officers, as to whether a report by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, which recommends Const. Michael Adams should be charged in the beating of Adam Nobody during the G20 summit, will be allowed into evidence.
Original Article
Source: Star
Author: Patty Winsa
Shawn Williams testified that he was turning on to Founders Rd. after picking up his wife from her job at York University around 6:30 p.m., May 5, 2010, when Manon ran in front of their car.
Williams says he watched as one officer grabbed Manon and brought him to the ground, while the other hit him with what looked like a police radio and then crouched down and kneed him in the ribs.
The 18-year-old had run from Const. Michael Adams and Sgt. Stuart Blower moments before, after they tried to arrest him during a traffic stop on Steeles Ave. W.
Manon ran south and down Founders Rd. before he was caught by the officers, who tackled him to the ground. He died there of “positional asphyxia,” according to the province’s chief forensic pathologist, Dr. Pollanen.
An investigation completed by the Special Investigations Unit last January cleared the two officers. An SIU news release said that during the struggle “pressure was placed on (Manon’s) chest in a manner that could have caused it to compress and interfere with his breathing, a classic indicia of death caused by positional asphyxia.”
Legal wrangling over evidence has delayed the testimony of Const. Michael Adams, who was scheduled to testify last week.
On Tuesday, Coroner Dan Cass will hear submissions from the family’s lawyer as well as a lawyer for the officers, as to whether a report by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, which recommends Const. Michael Adams should be charged in the beating of Adam Nobody during the G20 summit, will be allowed into evidence.
Original Article
Source: Star
Author: Patty Winsa
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