The family of a young man who died following an assault by an off-duty Toronto police officer spoke at his sentencing hearing Monday, saying the incident has left them devastated, confused, and frustrated.
Chadd Facey died in 2021, the same day he was tackled by off-duty Toronto police officer Calvin Au.
Speaking Monday at the sentencing hearing for Au, who was found guilty of assault in connection with the incident, Facey’s mother said the loss of her son has had a “deep and lasting impact” on her, as well as her family and community.
“Chadd was assaulted not by a random act of violence, but by individuals in positions of trust and authority,” Facey’s mother Fay Fagan told the court.
“The pain of that loss has made even harder to bear knowing that it came from those who were meant to serve and protect.”
Facey met up with Au and Gurmakh Benning on April 26, 2021, in a school parking lot in Vaughan, near the intersection of Highway 50 and Bellchase Trail, to sell Benning an Apple Watch he had advertised on Kijiji.
Benning gave Facey $400 for the watch, but realized after he left that it was a fake. Benning and Au, both off-duty police officers, then chased after Facey.
Benning caught up to Facey by car and grabbed the money back. Au then ran at them on foot and took Facey to the ground. Friends Facey had called while being pursued then arrived and saw the two men standing over Facey. Benning called 911. Then the two men got in his car and left.
Facey’s friends took him to one of their homes and then took him to his house after he appeared to get worse. Later, friends and family noticed a bump on his forehead and he was taken to the hospital, where later that day he died of a of an intercerebral hemorrhage.
Peel police eventually tracked down the two officers using Facey’s cellphone. It wasn’t until August of 2021 that Toronto police were made aware of the fact that two of their officers had been involved in the incident.
In February 2023, Au was charged with assault causing bodily harm in connection with the incident. In November 2024 he was found guilty of assault in the case.
In her ruling, Justice Jennifer Woollcombe said she was not able to say for certain that Au’s tackle resulted in the bump that was found on Facey’s head, nor that Au’s assault was responsible for his death.
‘A hole that cannot be filled’
Speaking at the sentencing hearing in Brampton Monday, Facey’s three sisters spoke of the pain of losing their baby brother.
“Imagine while studying for your law school finals, you hear your mother screaming on the phone ‘my son is gone,’” Renae Facey told the court, recounting the moment she learned her brother was dead.
She said she and her brother were “inseparable” and that she could never have imagined life without him.
“There is no closure. There is no amount of time, money or words that will bring my brother back,” Renae Facey said.
“What we seek now is accountability and justice for the assault caused by the offender, Calvin Au. My brother mattered. His life mattered, and the ripple effects of his death continue to affect everyone we know. My brother should still be here today.”
Eighteen years his senior, Nicole Hutton said Chadd was more like a son to her than a little brother when he came along.
“Chad was more than just a brother. He was the light of our family, the one we all protected, the baby of the family. There are no words that can truly describe the pain of losing someone like Chadd,” she said.
She recalled collecting him from the school bus and making him an after-school snack each day when he was a kid.
“I looked forward to my brother getting married and having kids, but now he’s gone,” she said. “Knowing that my mother lost her only son breaks my heart.”
The 19-year-old had been studying psychology and had also released music under the stage name DPA Face.
Because of COVID restrictions that were in place at the time, the family said, they were not even allowed to see Chadd to say goodbye, and attendance at his funeral was severely restricted as well.
“This loss is not just a wound, it’s a hole that cannot be filled,” Nicole Hutton said. “Chad’s passing changed everything; birthdays, holidays and even ordinary moments. We feel his absence every single day.”
Tanisha Hutton, another of Chadd’s sisters, broke down in court recalling how she had always wanted a brother and how pleased she was when he was born.
When she first heard her brother was in the hospital, her first worry was that he might have gotten COVID.
She said she was on-route to the hospital in the car with her sister, daughter and niece, when she got the news that Chadd was gone.
The kids had to listen as she and her sister fought with hospital staff to try and see Chadd’s body.
“I feel sick every time I have to drive by Brampton Civic Hospital,” she said.
“There have been many sleepless nights, tears and so many questions in the days following the assault. My family and I have many conversations. We end up going around in circles, feeling exhausted and empty inside.”
The family filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the officers, as well as the Toronto Police Service in 2023. That suit remains active, lawyers for the family confirmed Monday.
Multiple factors could be part of sentencing
Speaking for the Crown at the sentencing hearing Monday, lawyer Sean Horgan said that multiple factors should be considered, including that officers are granted “significant powers” to perform their duties, and that Au ignored the de-escalation and use of force training that he would have received as an officer.
Horgan also argued that officers should be subject to more severe sentences than ordinary citizens when convicted of crimes because they are tasked with upholding the law and that the restoration of public trust should be considered in sentencing.
The court also heard a debate as to whether race should be considered a factor in the sentencing, citing the case of former Toronto police officer Michael Theriault, who was handed jail time in the assault that seriously injured Dafonte Miller.
The Crown said their were numerous similarities in the two cases and cited the appeal court’s praise for the ruling in the Theriault case, which said the offence “cannot be considered in a vacuum.”
The defence argued that there were other aggravating factors which led to Theriault’s sentencing, including the use of a pipe as a weapon and some of the serious injuries that resulted from the assault.
They also argued that invoking race as a factor in the case when there was no evidence that it was a factor risked creating a situation where all people are not treated equally before the law.
The Crown is seeking a four-month jail sentence, 12 months of probation, a weapons ban for five years and a requirement that Au submit a DNA sample.
Au’s lawyer, Peter Brauti, said that as sad as Facey’s death has been for his family, Au was not responsible. He said the four-month sentence requested by the Crown would, practically speaking, result in his termination from the Toronto Police Service.
Lawyers for Au also said they believed the four-month sentence would be “grossly disproportionate to the gravity of the offence, disconnected from the facts, from precedent and the circumstances of the offender.”
Instead, they are suggesting a conditional discharge, which would likely include some probation term, but no criminal record.
For the time being, Au remains suspended with pay.
The sentence is expected to be handed down on June 18.
