A Toronto police officer pleaded guilty Wednesday to criminal charges after he shot and seriously injured a Black man in 2023, the victim's lawyer said, as court documents show the man was backing away from police at the time of the incident.
David Shellnutt said his client, Devon Fowlin, was in a park with his dog the morning of Feb. 27, 2023 and was not a threat to police when officers shot him with tasers and a firearm after Fowlin put a knife to his own neck.
An agreed statement of facts said Fowlin was backing away from police officers while he held the knife, and two officers fired tasers at him. At one point one officer yelled, "Oh my god shoot him," the document said, before Const. Andrew Davis fired two shots at Fowlin, leaving him with multiple injuries.
The Special Investigations Unit, which acts as Ontario's police watchdog, later charged Davis with one count of aggravated assault and one count of discharging a firearm with intent to maim, wound, disfigure or endanger life.
Davis has pleaded guilty to lesser charges of assault and careless use of a firearm, Shellnutt said.
Shellnutt said in a press release that there were multiple failures by police in the incident, culminating in one that was "near deadly." He said although Davis is responsible for the shots fired, he had only been on the force for about a year and was "poorly guided by his superiors."
"Their response to a person in need, to a person who needed immediate support, was to shoot him," Shellnutt said. "This calls into question the ability of police to handle situations involving people in mental health crisis, as well as the effectiveness of current use of force training."
Toronto police and the SIU declined to comment on the case. Police confirmed Davis is scheduled to be sentenced in October.
Fowlin said in a statement that he believes the guilty plea means there's "justice for everyone involved." He noted it's been a difficult period for him since the shooting as he recovers physically and mentally.
"Everyone, from the Toronto Police to the SIU to Constable Davis, seems to agree about my situation, and it’s good for everyone involved to take responsibility, so that we can all move on," Fowlin said.
Shellnutt said Davis rightfully accepted blame for the incident, "but questions remain."
In 2022, Toronto police apologized to the Black community, through then-interim police chief James Ramer, after releasing previously unseen race-based data. Ramer had said the force needs to do better, as statistics showed that Black people faced a disproportionate amount of police enforcement and use of force and were more likely to have an officer point a gun at them — whether they were perceived as armed or unarmed — than white people in the same situation.
"Would that same escalation have occurred should Mr. Fowlin have been white, statistics would suggest not," said Shellnutt.
"Mr. Fowlin is the human face of that disproportionate use of force data."
Shellnutt said a civil lawsuit was initiated on Fowlin's behalf against the Toronto police and the officers involved.
A statement of claim filed in an Ontario court last year alleges the use of tasers and firearms on Fowlin by the defendants was "excessive and unreasonable," resulting in harm to Fowlin both psychologically and physically.
Fowlin said he continues to seek the support necessary to move forward.
"This case is an opportunity to improve things for the next person," he said. "My name and Constable Davis’ name need to be written together in the history books, so that people can learn from this."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 28, 2025.
Rianna Lim, The Canadian Press
