Why did Toronto police officers come to Norfolk County to investigate the gunsmith? Rodger Kotanko, and how did I end up dead?
Those are some of the many questions still unanswered two weeks after Kotanko left. Shooting on November 3 by police officers searching for weapons at his home on Port Ryerse Road, west of Port Dover.
Kotanko, 70, was reportedly shot four times, one in the neck and three in the chest, and died of his injuries in hospital.
Personal injury attorney Michael Smitiuch addressed more than 50 of Kotanko’s neighbors, friends and clients at a news conference outside the family home on Thursday.
“We are here to seek answers and seek accountability,” Smitiuch said.
“This will not be swept under the rug. This community demands answers. This family deserves them. So we won’t stop until we get to the truth and get justice for Rodger. “
Behind Smitiuch were Kotanko’s relatives, including his 88-year-old mother, Elinor, his wife Jessie, and their three children.
Her sister, Suzanne Kantor, said the family is still on the mend.
“We are all in shock,” Kantor said.
“It was not violent. He was not someone to fear. It was harmless, ”he continued.
“That’s why we are really struggling with how they could go in and do something like this.”
Smitiuch said he has seen a video of the events leading up to the shooting, but did not include it, but did not reveal the source of the images.
According to Smitiuch’s version of events, Toronto police allegedly had an “observer” vehicle parked near Kotanko’s home on the morning of November 3. He said officers would have seen Kotanko and his wife, Jessie, return from a shopping trip.
The lawyer alleges that agents waited until Kotanko, a gunsmith for more than 30 years, entered his store before “detaining” his wife and moving in around noon.
Smitiuch said officers did not go through the front door of Kotanko’s small store, opening fire from the grass outside after passing through the entrance.
“Why didn’t they stop Rodger when he stopped on this driveway with Jessie and peacefully dealt with this?” Smitiuch said.
“Why did you wait for Rodger to enter your workshop, where he is a gunsmith and there will be many weapons? It’s puzzling. “
Jeff Kotanko said his older brother was in such demand as a gunsmith that his clients urged him never to leave.
“He told me on more than one occasion that he would probably die sitting on his bench,” Jeff Kotanko said, struggling to recover.
Smitiuch said his efforts to get answers from the police and the Special Investigations Unit – the civil agency that investigates the police shootings – have “hit a wall”, with no response from the SIU principal investigator.
“There is a cone of silence that covers this event,” Smitiuch said, adding that neither he nor the family have seen the arrest warrant that Toronto police were supposed to be there to fulfill.
“Where is this order? For what reasons was this court order issued? We don’t know, ”he said.
Smitiuch called it “very unusual” for Toronto police to serve a warrant out of the city without contacting the local OPP detachment until “a few minutes” before moving.
If they had, he said, the tragedy could have been avoided, as Kotanko had worked for local police officers and was well known to the OPP.
“These were the people who had been to Rodger’s store. They knew Rodger and could have facilitated a very peaceful and quiet execution of this order, ”Smitiuch said.
Kotanko’s family and his lawyer also wanted to know the identity of a stranger who called Kotanko the night before his death and made an appointment to see him the next day.
Smitiuch said that this unknown person, who told Kotanko he was a customer, was in the store at the time of the shooting, but has not been heard from since.
“We don’t know if it was really a customer or not,” Smitiuch said.
Smitiuch said police seized Kotanko’s cell phone, which could offer a clue to the identity of the mystery client.
He said that Kotanko’s death at the hands of the police “at least cries of negligence.”
“Whether criminal or not, we’ll see,” Smitiuch said. “The planning for this appears to be a failure, as does the actual raid.”
The SIU has reported that a Toronto police officer fired his gun while executing the order.
The agency has identified one officer as the subject of its investigation, as well as seven witness officers who are legally required to hand over their notes and undergo interviews with SIU investigators.
The subject officer is not required to participate.
In a press release issued Thursday afternoon, SIU spokeswoman Kristy Denette said investigators collected a police firearm that was sent for analysis to the Forensic Science Center in Toronto.
So far, investigators have interviewed five officers and two civilian witnesses, Denette said.
The results of a post-mortem examination conducted on November 4 are still pending.
Smitiuch would not say whether Kotanko’s wife, Jessie, was one of the civilian witnesses interviewed.
“Jessie was here when it happened, so she has information on what happened. But we will leave the SIU to its investigation, ”he said.
Denette told The Spectator that the agency aims to complete its investigation within 120 days of the shooting.
A central question, Smitiuch said, is why Kotanko was under investigation. As a licensed gunsmith, Kotanko was “squeaky clean” and “had no problems” with law enforcement, he said.
“He always kept abreast of gun laws,” added Suzanne Kantor. “There is nothing we can think of that could cause something like this to happen.”
Jeff Kotanko said his brother was meticulous in keeping records and routinely passed inspections by the Ontario Director of Firearms.
“He had licenses for everything,” Jeff Kotanko said.
“None of this makes any sense at all. A cop shot a guy he didn’t need, and we want to know why. “
JP Antonacci’s reports on Haldimand and Norfolk are funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.
Reference-www.thestar.com