Intense video shows suspected package thief throwing rocks at Toronto police officer
Disturbing video footage is circulating today in Toronto of an alleged porch pirate getting violent with a police officer and causing damage to their cruiser.
The suspect's weapon: A rock — one small enough to hurl repeatedly at a cop, but large enough to smash through the rear windshield of a vehicle.
Erin Leslie captured the video in a residential neighbourhood near Dundas and Sherbourne around 2 p.m. on Monday.
"I was making lunch when I heard a guy shout that someone was stealing packages from doorsteps and throwing rocks," wrote Leslie in the caption of a just over three-minute-long video uploaded to YouTube this afternoon.
"The neighbourhood was quick to respond and call 911, but the first officer on the scene was alone and struggled to apprehend the guy as he smashed her car with rocks," the caption continues. "She tased him unsuccessfully twice and he was then taken down by backup police."
A man caught stealing packages in a downtown Toronto neighbourhood resisted arrest by throwing rocks at police - 📹 Erin Leslie https://t.co/aJIP810ucr #Toronto #TorontoPolice pic.twitter.com/minqTu9xmt
— blogTO (@blogTO) May 4, 2020
Toronto Police confirmed to blogTO that one person was arrested in relation to the incident, a police cruiser was damaged and an investigation is ongoing.
Toronto Police Cst. Michelle Flannery said officers responded to the Shuter Street and Seaton Street area at 2:02 p.m. this afternoon for an Assault in Progress call "where a man was assaulting another man and throwing rocks."
It is alleged that "an officer attended the call and a man began throwing rocks at her."
The YouTube video indeed shows a man throwing a rock at a TPS vehicle and an officer. The rock bounces off the cruiser in several different places, but one of two shots at the rear windshield shatters it to pieces.
After smashing the windshield, the man can be seen retrieving his rock from inside the cruiser and chasing the lonce police officer around the vehicle, attempting to throw the rock at her again and again.
Oh my God, salute to the police officer.. 👮♀️... no words, if it was the US the crazy guy would have been shot straight away. ❤️🇨🇦... the police officer risked his life. Deserves every possible recognition n bravery.
— sunnynorth (@vanuvulli) May 4, 2020
The officer can be seen deploying a taser and telling the suspect to get back, but it does not appear to work as he hurls the rock once again toward her at close range.
Two women who may or may not be named Karen can be heard in the background all the while expressing their thoughts.
"It's a black man, and now the police are like... it's..." starts one, to which the other screams "RIGHT! Exactly. Can somebody film this? Can someone film this because it could get bad."
Fortunately, the lone police officer managed to dodge every rock thrown at her until backup arrived and grappled the suspect to the ground.
Police confirmed early Monday that a suspect was taken into custody and that Kola Alex Ogunkoya, 42 has been charged theft from mail, assault with a weapon, mischief, assaulting a peace officer with a weapon and uttering threats.
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