Family, friends question police watchdog findings in gunsmith's death
A Special Investigations Unit report found no wrongdoing in Rodger Kotanko’s shooting death last November.
Author of the article
ostmedia News
Publishing date:Mar 08, 2022 • 16 hours ago • 4 minute read • 21 Comments
Gunsmith Roger Kotanko was fatally shot Nov. 3 by a Toronto police officer in the workshop of his Port Ryerse home. His friend and family are questioning a Special Investigations Unit report clearing the officer of any wrongdoing.
Gunsmith Roger Kotanko was fatally shot Nov. 3 by a Toronto police officer in the workshop of his Port Ryerse home. His friend and family are questioning a Special Investigations Unit report clearing the officer of any wrongdoing.
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PORT RYERSE — Family and friends of Rodger Kotanko gathered Tuesday outside the home of the Norfolk County gunsmith to question a report by the Special Investigations Unit that found no police wrongdoing in the fatal shooting last November of the 70-year-old man.
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“It is outrageous and unthinkable that police officers who targeted and took down Rodger, can call it a day and simply walk away,” Suzanne Kantor, one of Kotanko’s siblings, said in a news release issued by the family’s lawyer Michael Smitiuch.
“The Rodger we knew was a calm and gentle man. The SIU version of events, just doesn’t add up.”
Ontario’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit, has said it won’t charge a Toronto officer who shot and killed Kotanko in the workshop behind his Port Ryerse home, saying the officer had seconds to make a “life-or-death” decision.
COLUMN: Watchdog reveals potential hard truths about gunsmith’s death
SIU director Joseph Martino said the officer acted in self-defence when he shot Kotanko, with the gunsmith refusing to put up his hands and pointing a firearm at the officer.
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“At a distance of no more than a few metres from (Kotanko), it is difficult to imagine what else the (officer) could have done to protect himself . . . ,” Martino wrote in his report. “I am unable to fault the officer for choosing to meet a reasonably apprehended threat of imminent and lethal force with a resort to lethal force of his own.”
Jeff Kotanko, brother of slain gunsmith Rodger Kotanko, speaks at a news conference on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, at Rodger Kotanko’s home near Port Dover.
Jeff Kotanko, brother of slain gunsmith Rodger Kotanko, speaks at a news conference on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, at Rodger Kotanko’s home near Port Dover. PHOTO BY BRIAN THOMPSON /Postmedia Network
The Kotanko family said it intends to “seek justice” and protect Kotanko’s reputation. It has filed a civil lawsuit seeking $23 million in damages from the Toronto police services board, five officers, including the officer who fired the fatal shots, Insp. Norman Proctor, head of the gun and gang task force, and Toronto police Chief James Ramer.
Their statement of claim, which has not been tested in court, alleges “police recklessly targeted Kotanko, negligently planned the search of his workshop and exercised excessive and unjustifiable force” during the Nov. 3, 2021, search.
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“The SIU report into Rodger’s fatal shooting is not the whole story,” said Smitiuch of Smitiuch Injury Law PC. “The reality is that police created a situation in which Rodger Kotanko did not stand a chance.”
Martino’s report paints a different picture.
“It is true that the (two police officers) entered the workshop with their guns drawn and immediately asked that (Kotanko and a customer) raise their hands, but these would appear to have been reasonable precautions in the circumstances,” he wrote.
“They were, after all, investigating a serious criminal offence and had reason to believe that there would likely be firearms in the workshop – (Kotanko) was a gunsmith.”
Officers were investigating allegations of firearms trafficking, Martino said, and had obtained a warrant to search Kotanko’s home and workshop.
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Members of the Ontario Provincial Police were stationed outside the home of Norfolk gunsmith Rodger Kotanko, 70, of Port Ryerse Road west of Port Dover on Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. Kotanko was shot the day before. (Monte Sonnenberg/Postmedia Network)
Members of the Ontario Provincial Police were stationed outside the home of Norfolk gunsmith Rodger Kotanko, 70, of Port Ryerse Road west of Port Dover on Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. Kotanko was shot the day before. (Monte Sonnenberg/Postmedia Network)
“Firearms had been recovered in two separate police investigations, including a kidnapping, that were registered to a firearms business owned by (Kotanko),” Martino’s report read. “In neither case had (Kotanko) . . . reported the firearms stolen or missing, and thus it was suspected that he or an associate had illegally traded in firearms.”
When Toronto police arrived, Kotanko was in his workshop with a customer who had brought a newly purchased gun for repair, the SIU said.
The officers, wearing vests that said “police,” approached the workshop and called out that they were police and had a warrant, the report said. They shouted for both men to raise their hands.
The customer complied, but Kotanko didn’t, the SIU said.
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“Within seconds of their entry, (Kotanko) reached with his right hand towards the workbench, retrieved (the customer’s) firearm, and turned with it in the officers’ direction as they yelled at him to ‘drop the gun,’ ” Martino wrote.
Martino said an officer shot Kotanko four times. The gunsmith died later in hospital.
“(Another officer) standing beside the (first officer) and similarly situated to his colleague, says that he feared for their lives at that moment, and . . . was just about to fire his weapon to defend himself when he heard his colleague’s firearm being discharged.”
Kotanko’s brother said he doesn’t buy the SIU’s version of the shooting.
“They’re saying he reached for his gun, pointed it at the officer who had a gun trained on him with his finger on the trigger — really?” Jeff Kotanko said.
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“He wasn’t Billy the Kid, nobody in their right mind would possibly even consider doing that.”
The family questioned why police, who received approval for a search warrant earlier that day and then drove from Toronto, did not try to talk to Kotanko in a safe place, rather than bursting into his gunshop.
“When police knew Rodger was out, when he arrived at this very driveway, they could have stopped him at this point,” Smitiuch said.
It was also concerning that they let Kotanko walk into the shop with a customer, he said.
He said police should have know that Kotanko may very well be working on a gun in his gunshop.
“If they were going to exercise a search warrant at a butcher shop and they open the door and the butcher had a knife, does that give them the justification to shoot and kill that butcher?” Smitiuch said. “I don’t think so.”
With files from The Canadian Press
torontosun.com
A Special Investigations Unit report found no wrongdoing in Rodger Kotanko’s shooting death last November.
Author of the article
ostmedia NewsPublishing date:Mar 08, 2022 • 16 hours ago • 4 minute read • 21 Comments
Gunsmith Roger Kotanko was fatally shot Nov. 3 by a Toronto police officer in the workshop of his Port Ryerse home. His friend and family are questioning a Special Investigations Unit report clearing the officer of any wrongdoing.
Gunsmith Roger Kotanko was fatally shot Nov. 3 by a Toronto police officer in the workshop of his Port Ryerse home. His friend and family are questioning a Special Investigations Unit report clearing the officer of any wrongdoing.
Article content
PORT RYERSE — Family and friends of Rodger Kotanko gathered Tuesday outside the home of the Norfolk County gunsmith to question a report by the Special Investigations Unit that found no police wrongdoing in the fatal shooting last November of the 70-year-old man.
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“It is outrageous and unthinkable that police officers who targeted and took down Rodger, can call it a day and simply walk away,” Suzanne Kantor, one of Kotanko’s siblings, said in a news release issued by the family’s lawyer Michael Smitiuch.
“The Rodger we knew was a calm and gentle man. The SIU version of events, just doesn’t add up.”
Ontario’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit, has said it won’t charge a Toronto officer who shot and killed Kotanko in the workshop behind his Port Ryerse home, saying the officer had seconds to make a “life-or-death” decision.
COLUMN: Watchdog reveals potential hard truths about gunsmith’s death
SIU director Joseph Martino said the officer acted in self-defence when he shot Kotanko, with the gunsmith refusing to put up his hands and pointing a firearm at the officer.
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“At a distance of no more than a few metres from (Kotanko), it is difficult to imagine what else the (officer) could have done to protect himself . . . ,” Martino wrote in his report. “I am unable to fault the officer for choosing to meet a reasonably apprehended threat of imminent and lethal force with a resort to lethal force of his own.”
Jeff Kotanko, brother of slain gunsmith Rodger Kotanko, speaks at a news conference on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, at Rodger Kotanko’s home near Port Dover.
Jeff Kotanko, brother of slain gunsmith Rodger Kotanko, speaks at a news conference on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, at Rodger Kotanko’s home near Port Dover. PHOTO BY BRIAN THOMPSON /Postmedia Network
The Kotanko family said it intends to “seek justice” and protect Kotanko’s reputation. It has filed a civil lawsuit seeking $23 million in damages from the Toronto police services board, five officers, including the officer who fired the fatal shots, Insp. Norman Proctor, head of the gun and gang task force, and Toronto police Chief James Ramer.
Their statement of claim, which has not been tested in court, alleges “police recklessly targeted Kotanko, negligently planned the search of his workshop and exercised excessive and unjustifiable force” during the Nov. 3, 2021, search.
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“The SIU report into Rodger’s fatal shooting is not the whole story,” said Smitiuch of Smitiuch Injury Law PC. “The reality is that police created a situation in which Rodger Kotanko did not stand a chance.”
Martino’s report paints a different picture.
“It is true that the (two police officers) entered the workshop with their guns drawn and immediately asked that (Kotanko and a customer) raise their hands, but these would appear to have been reasonable precautions in the circumstances,” he wrote.
“They were, after all, investigating a serious criminal offence and had reason to believe that there would likely be firearms in the workshop – (Kotanko) was a gunsmith.”
Officers were investigating allegations of firearms trafficking, Martino said, and had obtained a warrant to search Kotanko’s home and workshop.
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Members of the Ontario Provincial Police were stationed outside the home of Norfolk gunsmith Rodger Kotanko, 70, of Port Ryerse Road west of Port Dover on Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. Kotanko was shot the day before. (Monte Sonnenberg/Postmedia Network)
Members of the Ontario Provincial Police were stationed outside the home of Norfolk gunsmith Rodger Kotanko, 70, of Port Ryerse Road west of Port Dover on Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. Kotanko was shot the day before. (Monte Sonnenberg/Postmedia Network)
“Firearms had been recovered in two separate police investigations, including a kidnapping, that were registered to a firearms business owned by (Kotanko),” Martino’s report read. “In neither case had (Kotanko) . . . reported the firearms stolen or missing, and thus it was suspected that he or an associate had illegally traded in firearms.”
When Toronto police arrived, Kotanko was in his workshop with a customer who had brought a newly purchased gun for repair, the SIU said.
The officers, wearing vests that said “police,” approached the workshop and called out that they were police and had a warrant, the report said. They shouted for both men to raise their hands.
The customer complied, but Kotanko didn’t, the SIU said.
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“Within seconds of their entry, (Kotanko) reached with his right hand towards the workbench, retrieved (the customer’s) firearm, and turned with it in the officers’ direction as they yelled at him to ‘drop the gun,’ ” Martino wrote.
Martino said an officer shot Kotanko four times. The gunsmith died later in hospital.
“(Another officer) standing beside the (first officer) and similarly situated to his colleague, says that he feared for their lives at that moment, and . . . was just about to fire his weapon to defend himself when he heard his colleague’s firearm being discharged.”
Kotanko’s brother said he doesn’t buy the SIU’s version of the shooting.
“They’re saying he reached for his gun, pointed it at the officer who had a gun trained on him with his finger on the trigger — really?” Jeff Kotanko said.
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Article content
“He wasn’t Billy the Kid, nobody in their right mind would possibly even consider doing that.”
The family questioned why police, who received approval for a search warrant earlier that day and then drove from Toronto, did not try to talk to Kotanko in a safe place, rather than bursting into his gunshop.
“When police knew Rodger was out, when he arrived at this very driveway, they could have stopped him at this point,” Smitiuch said.
It was also concerning that they let Kotanko walk into the shop with a customer, he said.
He said police should have know that Kotanko may very well be working on a gun in his gunshop.
“If they were going to exercise a search warrant at a butcher shop and they open the door and the butcher had a knife, does that give them the justification to shoot and kill that butcher?” Smitiuch said. “I don’t think so.”
With files from The Canadian Press
Family, friends question police watchdog findings in gunsmith's death
PORT RYERSE — Family and friends of Rodger Kotanko are questioning a Special Investigations Unit report finding no police wrongdoing in the Norfolk County gunsmith’…
