12.22.2008

mentally ill man murdered by police in mississauga

Gregg Moynagh lived in Port Credit, Mississauga, around the corner from where we used to live, a few kilometers from where we live now.

He was 25 years old. He suffered from mental illness.

Yesterday he was yelling and throwing things off his balcony. Police say he was lunging at them. "Knives were recovered" at the scene, as the vague expression goes. Whether or not Gregg Moynagh was holding one of them, we don't know.

We do know the police shot and killed him.

There were four police officers. Mr. Moynagh was alone. Was there no other way to subdue this poor soul than to kill him?

Of course this will be investigated. By the police.

Update and correction. This is being investigated by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), a civilian review board, not the police. I'm not convinced of the SIU's impartiality or independence, but it's not an internal investigation, as I originally thought.

Some people see the low incidence of SIU findings against police officers as evidence of good policing. I'm quite a bit more skeptical.

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