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This Week In Crime: February 10-16
Each week, Torontoist chooses the most interesting cases from the Toronto Police Service crime blotter. All charges are alleged until proven under law.
A man takes-out anger management issues on a TTC driver; newcomers to Canada are targets of a mail scam; officers wake-up a sleeping man and all hell breaks loose; and who’s setting little fires around a downtown apartment building?
FEBRUARY 14: A vehicle traveling east on McNicholl Avenue allegedly loses control and strikes a women who was walking on the roadway at Stonebridge Boulevard. The woman later succumbed to injuries two days later, and police are still seeking witnesses.
FEBRUARY 14: On St. Clair near Bathurst, a man walks-up to a stopped streetcar wanting to get on. The driver could not open the doors since it wasn’t a scheduled stop, and the man became upset and punched the doors. When the driver stopped at Vaughan Road and left the streetcar to operate the track switch, the suspect appeared and struck the driver on the back of the head a number of times with his fist. The 44-year-old man fled and was arrested a short distance away.
FEBRUARY 15: Police are called to the Kabhie Kabhie club on Kingston Road at about 1 a.m. for a shooting. It is alleged that a man entered a dispute with security staff and left, returning a few minutes later and forced himself into the club. At least six shots were fired into the ceiling and walls of the crowded club, when the shooter then fled in a van. The van was spotted by attending officers, and a 30-year-old man was arrested and slapped with 11 gun-related charges.
FEBRUARY 15: Someone has been setting a series of small fires inside an apartment building at 40 Gerrard Street East since the beginning of the year. The Toronto Police announce that, while the damage so far has been minimal, the potential for damage and danger to residents is significant and are currently seeking information.
FEBRUARY 16: The Toronto Police Service alerts the public to a province-wide mail scam where a suspect poses as a representative of the Consumer Services Bureau of the Ontario Government. Directed toward new immigrants to Canada, letters are sent-out claiming that the recipient owes back-taxes and demands payment by cheque or money order. The Police note that any letter asking for payment to an individual government official is a fraud, as are any payments requested to the Consumer Services Bureau.
FEBRUARY 16: Officers find a man asleep in his parked vehicle at Albion Road and Highway 27. In order to escape custody, a man uses his black Chevrolet Trailblazer to ram two police cruisers, fleeing southbound on Highway 27 and injuring three officers in the process. The police are still looking for the man and the vehicle.
FEBRUARY 16: With assistance of the Peel Regional Police, a 21-year-old Brampton man was arrested and faces nine charges for pimping-out a 16-year-old girl as a prostitute. The man is accused of controlling the minor with threats/violence, directing her where and when to work and how much to charge for various sex acts.
Anyone with information on the crimes listed above is asked to contact police at 416−808−2222 (non-emergency), or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416−222−TIPS (8477) or online at www.222tips.com. Toronto Police cruiser photo by sevennine from Flickr. Some data are based on preliminary information and may not be verified. Crime classifications may change at a later date.