I recognized immediately the wanted man from the photo in a Toronto police news release.
asserted
I → recognize → release
This was three years ago and cops were looking for a suspect in the deadly attack on retired CBC radio producer Michael Finlay, who’d been pushed from behind while walking along Danforth Avenue, falling into a large wooden planter on the sidewalk.
asserted
who → look → sidewalk
Finlay had initially refused medical attention but officers found him “in distress” a short distance away.
asserted
him → refuse → distress
He’d suffered two fractured ribs and a collapsed lung.
asserted
He → suffer → ribs
Finlay was rushed to hospital.
asserted
Finlay → rush → hospital
Shortly after being discharged two days later, Finlay called 911 because he was having trouble breathing.
asserted
he → discharge → trouble
On the way to hospital, the 73-year-old went into cardiac arrest.
asserted
old → go → arrest
CPR was performed before he was placed on life support.
asserted
he → perform → support
Finlay, a cancer survivor, was pronounced dead on Jan. 31, 2023 — one week after the random assault.
asserted
Finlay → pronounce → assault
On that fateful day when Finlay was assaulted by a stranger, he’d been headed for his favourite pub.
asserted
he → assault → pub
Detectives had quickly identified the suspect upon viewing surveillance video that captured the attack.
asserted
that → identify → attack
Robert Cropeardwolf was, as they say, “known to police.
asserted
they → say → police
Someone I always tried to avoid, would cross the street whenever I clocked him.
asserted
I → try → him
I don’t mind them.
asserted
I → mind → them
Frankly, they were here first, in this historically seedy part of town that hasn’t yet relinquished its shabbiness to gentrification.
asserted
that → relinquish → gentrification
Which is why I like it; hard-edged, dishevelled, with a hole in its sole.
asserted
I → like → sole
For the most part, they’re harmless, the drifters and denizens.
asserted
they → ’re → part
Or at least the only harm they’re causing is to themselves.
asserted
they → cause → themselves
But sometimes, you just know.
asserted
you → know → ?
As I knew that this man, Cropeardwolf — before he appeared on a police blotter — was dangerous; he reeked of menace.
asserted
he → know → menace
What’s scarier is when you don’t know and never saw it coming — the stranger assailant on a bus, the lurking shover on the subway platform, the mentally ill person off their meds, the turf war between drug dealers that cuts down a young mother outside a safe injection site in broad daylight, the gun battle that erupts along the Entertainment District …
Brad Bradford, the failed Toronto mayoral candidate, played the crime card with relish during his campaign, portraying a city bursting at the seam with urban perils.
asserted
Bradford → ’ → perils
He’d vowed to hire 1,000 more cops.
asserted
He → vow → cops
But cops rarely stop crimes from happening.
asserted
cops → stop → crimes
They arrive after the break-and-enter, after the bank hold-up, after the murder, after the shove.
asserted
They → arrive → shove
Doubtless, though, many residents would feel safer with troops of added front-line officers on the street, in platoon cars, on bicycles.
asserted
residents → feel → bicycles
And it’s mostly about the existential feel of things, isn’t it?
asserted
it → ’ → things
I’m not soft-pedalling the length and breadth of crime in Toronto, a city well past its age of innocence.
asserted
I → pedal → innocence
Not even a mansion in the Bridle Path can be made ransack-and-gunshot-proof, as we saw this week — three family members shot by marauders.
asserted
we → make → marauders
As of Thursday, two family members remained in hospital with what police called life-altering
I’m relieved that Bradford lost to Mayor Olivia Chow because the hellscape he hyped was a warped dystopia that magnified the worst of Toronto — a worst that only the tiniest minority of us will ever experience.
asserted
minority → remain → us
But it’s the could-have-been-me that seizes our dread.
uncertain
that → ’ → dread
Conversely, Chow has never taken crime seriously enough.
asserted
Chow → take → crime
It’s particularly disappointing that Chow hasn’t even taken the statutory seat on the police board to which, as mayor, she’s entitled.
asserted
she → ’ → mayor
Back in her salad days a city councillor, she served on the board for a short time — in 2000 — before being bullied into resigning over heated remarks she’d made toward officers during an anti-poverty protest at Queen’s Park that turned violent.
asserted
that → serve → Park
As mayor, Chow has repeatedly given police everything they’ve wanted, including a steadily escalating budget.
asserted
they → give → budget
Yet she’s had very little to say beyond boilerplate comments about Project South, one of the biggest corruption scandals in the history of the Toronto Police Service.
asserted
she → have → Service
Crime data can be used to support any proposition: Homicides, shootings and robberies are down significantly in Toronto over last year while home invasions have spiked by nearly 50 per cent.
asserted
invasions → use → cent
I suspect that’s the metric that is most driving fear — a sense of vulnerability in one’s own home.
asserted
that → suspect → home
He was out on bail on previous charges of assault when he attacked Finlay.
asserted
he → attack → Finlay
He turned himself in five weeks later and eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter, sentenced to three years, dropped to 20 months after time served was factored in.
asserted
time → turn → months
He was released this past spring.
asserted
He → release → ?
…and 2 more, not listed.
The Aporia
