Toronto off-duty officer charged in teenager's death

An off-duty Toronto police officer has been charged with manslaughter and aggravated assault in connection with a teenager's death.

Chadd Facey, 19, died in April 2021 after a struggle with two off-duty officers.

Ontario's civilian police watchdog, the SIU, announced the charges against Const Calvin Au on Friday.

The incident began when the two met Mr Facey to buy a watch but believed it was counterfeit, according to the SIU.

The April 26, 2021 meeting in Brampton, a city in the Greater Toronto Area, led to a foot chase, which ended with Mr Au holding Mr Facey on the ground while the second off-duty officer demanded the money be returned, according to Toronto police disciplinary hearing documents obtained by CBC and CTV News.

The two men left the scene without reporting the incident. The 19-year-old died in hospital hours later. His cause of death has not been released.

The province of Ontario's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) launched its investigation in August of that year, after the incident was reported to Toronto police by the Peel Region police, which oversees Brampton.

The second off-duty officer involved in the incident, Const Gurmakh Benning, faces disciplinary charges but not criminal charges, according to the Toronto Police Service.

Mr Facey's mother, Fay Fagan, reacted to the charges on Friday, saying "it has been clear to our family that there was some kind of misconduct" in her son's death.

"We are happy to finally see that the officer is being held accountable for his actions," she said in a statement through the family's lawyer.