Toronto's Emergent Criminal Youth Element

"The driver attempted to flee and contact was made between the stolen car and an officer."

"In the course of the interaction, the officer shot his firearm multiple times at the driver."

"The driver took off and abandoned the car a short distance away and then was apprehended on foot a short time later."

Special Investigations Unit 

 

"There was contact made with a police officer and that vehicle, and then there were multiple shots fired at the vehicle."

"The injury could be from a bullet, could be a graze, could be glass from the vehicle, we don’t yet know that. But what we do know is it’s non-life-threatening injuries at this point."

"So, it’s not yet confirmed the nature of the boy’s injuries. Now the injury could be from a bullet, could be a graze, could be glass from the vehicle. We don’t yet know that, but what we do know is it’s non-life-threatening injuries at this point."

Special Investigations Unit (SIU) spokesperson Kristy Denette 

Toronto police cruisers are seen on the Leaside Bridge after an interaction with officers and a 12-year-old driver on the Leaside Bridge. (Beatrice Vaisman/CP24)

 

Charged with attempted murder after the stolen vehicle he was driving hit a Toronto police officer on Monday, the 12-year-old driver is in hospital, the result of police trying to stop the vehicle. There was another 12- and a 13-year-old boy in the vehicle along with the driver. Charges against the 12-year-old driver of the vehicle include theft of a motor vehicle, dangerous operation, failing to stop for police, assaulting a peace officer, and leaving the scene of an accident.

 

Under Canada's Youth Criminal Justice act the charged boy cannot be named. The incident began when police responded to a report of a vehicle theft near Donlands Avenue and O'Connor Drive just after 1:00 a.m. When two cruisers attempted to box in and apprehend the stolen vehicle on the Leaside Bridge, the driver as he sped off struck one of the officers standing outside his cruiser.

 

Multiple shots were fired by one of the officers in an attempt to stop the car. It is as yet unclear whether the shots were fired before or following the vehicle striking the police officer. One of the other occupants of the vehicle was caught and arrested, leaving police in search of the third boy. The driver had managed to elude the police but the vehicle was located soon afterward abandoned, while the driver who continued fleeing on foot, was arrested.

 

Both the wounded police officer and the young malefactor were taken to hospital with serious injuries -- albeit not life-threatening. The officer was released soon afterward, and the boy remains hospitalized for the time being. Speculating on the source of the boy's injuries, SIU spokeswoman Kristy Denette described multiple projectiles having hit the car, as well as bullets. 

 

"We don't want to use force on a child, clearly. But if your life is in danger, unfortunately you have no choice but to protect yourself and your colleagues", Clayton Campbell, president of the Toronto Police Service union explained. This, in the wake a week earlier of an 19-year-old suspect on an arrest warrant shooting 18-year-veteran Toronto Police Service officer Constable Marc Pinizzotto to death in the line of his duties.

 

Toronto police cruisers and an SIU vehicle are parked on the Leaside Bridge on Monday, June 15, 2026. (Beatrice Vaisman/CP24)