Latest news with #KenPrice
New York Times
4 days ago
- New York Times
A Grim Anniversary in Canada's Fight Against Guns
Veteran police in Canada still remember the days when officers, stunned that a colleague had taken a gun off the street, would gather to have a look at the firearm. 'It would fly through the station,' said Paul Krawczyk, an inspector with the integrated guns and gangs task force of the Toronto Police Service, Canada's largest metropolitan police force. Seizing firearms is now a routine, and growing, part of the job for Canadian police, especially in Toronto. This week marked the grim anniversary of a mass shooting in 2018 in a bustling east Toronto neighborhood called Danforth. Two people — a teenager, Reese Fallon, 18, and a child, Julianna Kozis, 10 — were killed and 13 others were injured. The gunman killed himself after the attack, which police said was carried out with a Smith & Wesson handgun that had been legally imported into Canada from the United States, then stolen from its owner. Families of the victims filed a class-action lawsuit against Smith & Wesson in 2019, arguing that the gun manufacturer had been negligent in not installing 'smart-gun' technology, like fingerprint recognition, that could have prevented the unauthorized use of their firearms. The lawsuit was certified by a judge in June after an appeal. 'We're very relieved because we recognize the novel nature of the case,' said Ken Price, whose daughter, Samantha, was shot in the hip when she was 18. 'The gun manufacturers and the industry itself needs to be more concerned about how their guns are used,' Mr. Price told me. Canada in recent years has tightened its gun laws. It banned most assault rifles in 2020, after the country's deadliest mass shooting rampage in Nova Scotia. In 2022, the government introduced sweeping legislation to crack down on gun trafficking and put a freeze on the sale, purchase and transfer of handguns, of which about 1.1 million are registered in the country. Further restrictions on certain firearm models have come into effect over the last eight months as the government rolled out its gun buyback program for assault-style rifles. The program is currently open to business owners of gun stores, and will be available to individual firearm owners later this year. [Canadian reader call-out: Are you a gun owner? Do you operate a firearms business? Are you participating in the buyback? I'd like to hear from you. You can reach me at While the government moves to expand firearm restrictions domestically, some officials are calling attention to gun smuggling across the border. Aggregated data in a 2022 Canadian government report shows that about 32 percent of guns seized in crimes were smuggled from the United States, but the figures are much higher in urban parts of Ontario and Quebec. For example, in Peel Region, an area covering the populous suburbs west of Toronto, 90 percent of the 205 guns seized in 2024 came from across the United States border. Police forces have seen a steady rise in the number of illicit firearms traced to states with less stringent gun laws along the so-called Iron Pipeline along the Southern United States. In 2024, more than half of the illegal firearms seized in Quebec came from Ohio, Florida, Texas and Georgia, according to the provincial police. In his ongoing trade dispute with Canada, President Trump has renewed his focus on border security, but blamed Canada for trafficking 'massive' amounts of fentanyl south, a statement that has been disproved by American border data. 'My first thought was, what about all the guns coming north?' said Nando Iannicca, chair of the police service board in Peel Region, a civilian group governing police operations. Mr. Trump's bellicose tone on the border issue and tariffs, and his repeated threats of annexing Canada, has ruptured the relationship between the two countries. 'Canadian officials are perhaps understandably reluctant to provide these counterarguments in fear that they're somehow going to rattle or anger President Trump,' said Scot Wortley, a criminology professor at the University of Toronto who is studying the use of guns among inner-city youth. Toronto Police began tracking the origins of firearms in 2005, which came to be called the 'summer of the gun' after a spate of shooting homicides. 'If we're going to stop this crime, we have to stop these guns coming into the city,' said Inspector Krawczyk of the Toronto Police. 'We owe it to the citizens of Toronto,' he said. Trans Canada Canada's premiers gathered in Huntsville, Ontario, this week to discuss plans to fortify the country's economy in the ongoing trade war against the United States. 'Their patriotic unity swiftly dissipated into the regional rifts that have long divided the country,' writes Ian Austen. Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada would not accept a trade deal with the U.S. at 'any cost.' From The Athletic: The five players from Canada's 2018 world junior hockey team who were accused of sexually assaulting a woman were found not guilty. Serge Schmemann, an Opinion writer at The Times, reflects on deteriorating Canada-U.S. relations while on vacation in Labelle, Quebec. Here's the latest on wildfires in Western Canada. A new study has found that climate change is making fire weather worse. A small Canadian company called Central European Petroleum claims to have discovered large oil reserves in Poland. The car company Stellantis, which paused production at Canadian plants for several weeks because of Mr. Trump's tariff measures, said it had lost $2.7 billion in the first half of this year. Rescuers freed three workers trapped in a mine in British Columbia. A cat owner in British Columbia has been flooded by calls from people reporting that they've seen her cat — who has never been lost — because of a T-shirt. Vjosa Isai is a reporter at The Times based in Toronto. How are we doing?We're eager to have your thoughts about this newsletter and events in Canada in general. Please send them to nytcanada@ Like this email?Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up here.
CTV News
16-07-2025
- CTV News
‘Highly likely' Windsor cop harassed complainant but no proof of sexual assault: Judge
A Windsor police officer was found not guilty of sexual assault. Staff Sgt Ken Price has been acquitted of four counts of sexual assault laid by a complainant who is a former auxiliary officer. 'Relieved,' is how defence lawyer Dan Scott characterized Price's feelings just moments after Justice Jennifer Myers read her decision. 'The truth of the matter is, had that sort of conduct taken place, someone would have complained,' Scott said. Justice Myers noted in all four alleged interactions, other officers were nearby. 'Here, it seems that there were so many witnesses who could have corroborated (the victims) account and bolstered the reliability of the Crowns case as a whole,' Justice Myers said Wednesday. Between 2011 and 2015 the complainant alleged Price touched her inappropriately on four occasions at the training branch for the Windsor Police Service (WPS). Price was a training officer. The complainant an auxiliary officer at the time. Justice Myers said while she found Price's testimony at trial to be 'dismissive' of the complainant and at times 'self-serving', she said the complainant's testimony, at times, lacked 'common sense'. 'I've found that Mr. Price's evidence does not raise a reasonable doubt but given the frailties of (the complainants) evidence and the lack of corroborative evidence from the witnesses who would have been in a position to observe, I cannot find Mr. Price guilty.' In one of her allegations, the complainant said she was helping Price put on body armour used during training scenarios. She said Price grabbed her wrist, and placed her hand over his crotch where there was no protection from the body armour. Justice Myers rejected that allegation, saying it was clear body armour would automatically have coverage in the mid-section because of how the top and bottom attach to each other. In another, the complainant alleged Price grabbed her buttocks in front of another officer. The judge rejected that complaint as well, ruling there was no way the other officer would have missed the interaction and kept quiet about it as he and the complainant are close friends. 'I'm not finding that (the complainant) lied. I find it highly likely that Mr. Price sexually harassed (the complainant) but that's not what I'm here to decide,' the judge said. 'And even if he likely sexually assaulted her that is not enough for me.' The judge said the Crown failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. 'There's a 30-day review period with respect to a potential appeal,' Assistant Crown Attorney Nicholas Demontigny told CTV News. 'As with any case, the Crown will be considering whether to proceed on that route and as such, the matter is before the courts, and I can't comment any further at this time.' Demontigny said the complainant was 'not pleased' and 'disappointed' by Justice Myers' decision. 'It was the proper verdict,' President of the Windsor Police Association, Kent Rice said. 'We need to adhere to the principles of assumption of innocence until proven guilty and the integrity of the law and how it works for everyone. It's a process, and nobody is above it.' Price has been suspended with pay from work since the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) laid the charges in June 2024. WPS officials say an internal investigation is underway by the Professional Standards Branch, under the Police Services Act. They won't say when Price can return to work.
CBC
16-07-2025
- CBC
Judge finds Windsor police staff sergeant not guilty of sexual assault
The "frailty" of some of the complainant's testimony and the lack of witnesses in the trial were two reasons the judge said she could not find Windsor police Staff Sgt. Ken Price committed sexual assault beyond a reasonable doubt.
CTV News
16-07-2025
- CTV News
Windsor police officer found not guilty of sexual assault
A Windsor police officer was found not guilty of sexual assault. Staff Sgt Ken Price was charged with four counts for alleged offences between 2011 and 2015 when the complainant was an auxiliary service member. Justice Jennifer Myers said her decision was based on 'credibility and reliability' of the complainant and Price. There were only two witnesses during last weeks five-day trial; the complainant and Price. This is a breaking story. More to come.
CBC
16-07-2025
- CBC
Judge will rule today in a Windsor police officer's sexual assault trial
Coming Up Staff Sgt. Ken Price is charged with 4 counts of sexual assault A Windsor judge is expected to rule today whether a Windsor Police Service staff sergeant is guilty of four counts of sexual assault. Justice Jennifer Myers is scheduled to give a verdict in Ontario Court of Justice in the case of Ken Price, who's pleaded not guilty. In the week-long trial last week, only two people testified — Price and the complainant, who claims Price sexually assaulted her when they both worked at the service between 2011 and 2015. Defence lawyer Dan Scott focused last week on the complainant's memory, as she was unable to recall seasons or even years when the alleged incidents happened. The complainant, meanwhile, testified that the incidents were too traumatic to record in her notes. Crown attorney Nicolas de Montigny argued that the woman was "credible and reliable" and "unshaken in cross examination." There is a publication ban on the identity of the victim.
