Twelve-year-old boy charged with attempted murder after allegedly hitting police officer with stolen car

A 12-year-old boy who allegedly hit a Toronto police officer with a stolen car and was shot at by police before he fled the scene has been charged with attempted murder.

Two other children, a 12-year-old and a 13-year-old, were also in the car at the time, Ontario’s police watchdog said. One has been arrested and police are looking for the other.

The 12-year-old driver remains in hospital in serious but non-life-threatening condition and the officer has since been released, the Special Investigations Unit said Monday morning. They were both sent there to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

The SIU says it’s still unclear how the boy was injured.

“The injury could be from a bullet, could be a graze, could be glass from the vehicle, we don’t know yet,” said Kristy Denette, a spokesperson for the SIU.

Police say the 12-year-old faces other charges including vehicle theft, failure to stop for police and assaulting a police officer.

Officers responded to a stolen vehicle call around 1 a.m. Monday morning in Toronto’s east end.

Four officers in two vehicles tried to box in the vehicle on Leaside Bridge. As the boy tried to flee, he allegedly hit a police officer who fired multiple times at the vehicle, Denette said.

She said it was early in the investigation, and it was not immediately clear whether the officer fired at the car before or after he was hit.

The car was abandoned just over a kilometre south of the bridge at Floyd Avenue and Donlands Avenue, Denette said. The 12-year-old was arrested about a block further south at Mortimer Avenue.