Body pulled from Lake Ontario ID'd as Toronto police officer
The body of a Toronto police officer was pulled from Lake Ontario near Polson Pier on Thursday, not far from the scene of a fatal shooting he was involved in nearly six years ago.
The body has been identified as Darius Garda, who had been reported missing, sources have told CBC News.
Garda had most recently been working out of 51 Division, but had been on leave, officers said. Police are investigating his death as a possible suicide, CBC News has learned.
An autopsy is scheduled for Friday.
Police were called to the waterfront in the Polson Street and Cherry Street area around 4 p.m. ET Wednesday for a report of a man having fallen into the water.
Firefighters also responded to the scene to help the police Marine Unit with recovery efforts.
Shortly after noon Thursday, police confirmed they had pulled a body from the lake.
One of the Marine Unit officers who recovered Garda's body had been involved in his training.
"This really resonates with our officers, and we've lost a member of our policing family," police union head Mike McCormack told CBC News on Thursday.
Garda's body was found close to the location of the shooting of a civilian, an incident involving Garda.
The shooting occurred in the early morning of April 19, 2010, after a police chase that ended at Cherry Street and Commissioners Street.
Police had pursued Wieslaw Duda, a 50-year-old father of two, through the city's east end before cornering his car at the waterfront intersection. Police opened fire on Duda after he clipped an officer with his car.
At the time, Duda's friends and family told the CBC's John Lancaster that Duda was taking medication for schizophrenia.
Following an investigation into the shooting, the province's Special Investigations Unit concluded there were "no reasonable grounds" to lay charges.
On Thursday afternoon, Toronto police tweeted about the loss of their colleague.
