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Kachkar will serve time at medium-security psychiatric facility

Richard Kachkar, the man who killed a Toronto police officer with a snow plow in 2011, will serve time at a medium-security psychiatric facility, the Ontario Review Board announced Monday.

He will be sent to Ontario Shores Centre in Whitby, Ont. It is a medium-security unit for patients with a mental illness.

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Kachkar will be allowed to walk around the hospital and its grounds when accompanied or escorted by staff. He will also be able to go to Whitby when accompanied by staff members and if police are notified.

Kachkar will also have to submit to drug and alcohol tests.

He will attend annual hearings, which will focus on his progress at the facility. At these hearings, Kachkar may be granted more privileges in the future.

The Crown and the defence reached an agreement and requested that Kachkar be admitted to Ontario Shores Centre. The Ontario Review board agreed with their request.

Sgt. Ryan Russell, 35, was killed on Jan. 12, 2011, after Kachkar struck him with a stolen snowplow. His trial heard that Kachkar yelled about the Taliban, Chinese technology and microchips as he drove the stolen plow around Toronto for two hours, crashing into a luxury car dealership and several other vehicles before hitting and killing Russell. Kachkar was charged with first-degree murder. A jury found Kachkar not criminally responsible due to mental illness.

Kachkar still poses a risk, though his prognosis is very good, psychiatrist Dr. Philip Klassen said at the review board meeting Friday.

When Kachkar began to seriously deteriorate in the weeks before he stole a snowplow and killed Russell, he wasn't hiding his symptoms well and those around him could tell something was wrong, Klassen said. Given the scrutiny Kachkar will receive, his risk could be managed, the psychiatrist said.

The NCR verdict has been hard to swallow for Russell's family, who delivered emotional and at times angry victim impact statements to the review board Friday.

The review board is believed to have reached its decision last Friday, but waited to make its decision public until this week.

The slain officer's widow, Christine Russell, issued a statement Monday, saying she was "extremely upset and shocked" by the board’s decision to allow Kachkar to enter the community.