Court Declares Kachkar ‘Not Criminally Responsible’ for Officer’s Death

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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The suspect who allegedly killed a Toronto police officer with use of a stolen snowplow on a winter morning almost two years ago has been declared not criminally responsible by the court. 46-years-old Richard Kachkar was driving a snowplow, which ran over and eventually killed Sgt. Ryan Russell on a Toronto street on Jan. 12, 2011. The 11-year police veteran had been attempting to stop Kachkar, at the time he was run over.

This Wednesday afternoon, the jury announced that it did not find Kachkar criminally responsible in the officer’s death. The judge had previously clarified to jurors during the trial, that there was “no doubt” that Kachkar was driving the snowplow that killed the 35-year-old Toronto officer. However, it elucidated that the issue in the trial was the accused’s mental state. The verdict delivered by the jury on Wednesday explained that the jurors believe that Kachkar was unable to apprehend what he was doing. at the time he killed Russell, due to his mentally illness.

An observer from the courtroom reported that Kachkar was emotionless at the time when the verdict was being announce in court. Whereas, on the other hand, the courtroom was filled with members of the Russell’s family, along with a considerate number of police officers. It was witnessed that “as the verdict was read, you could see a lot of them shaking their heads and Christine Russell … immediately put her head down.” Kachkar’s trial initially commenced in February, however the jury did not begin deliberating until Monday.